


Chasing Lost Stars

by Dr_Psyche



Category: Courage the Cowardly Dog, Steven Universe (Cartoon), Steven Universe: Save The Light (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Gen, Implied Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-05-14 19:55:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 42
Words: 49,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14776232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dr_Psyche/pseuds/Dr_Psyche
Summary: Legend has it that before written history there were giant squids who roamed the universe and from them the stars were born. Gem leadership seeks the truth of these legends and when one of them is discovered, Hessonite and Squaridot take a ship to chase after it.Their quest lands the crew in a dangerous star system that seems dead by all accounts. Slowly they uncover the system's violent history and the horrors that occurred there aren't over yet.





	1. The Epsilon Starport

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shadowpiratemonkey7](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowpiratemonkey7/gifts).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A pair of Peridots approach their next assignment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Peridots are Drawbauchery's [OCs](http://drawbauchery.tumblr.com/post/168265450337/concept-drawings-of-5xb-navel-and-5xz-thigh). There's a pic for reference.

“This sucks,” Peridot 5XZ said.

She and Peridot 5XB had been assigned to the Sculling, a gem battleship and space cruiser. The sudden change in assignment was one of many excuses for Peridot 5XZ to complain about something.

“You don’t even know what the assignment is yet,” Peridot 5XB responded.

5XB had a perpetually bored expression on her face. An assignment change was an assignment change, they weren’t doing much of anything beyond scheduled maintenance on the Epsilon Colony. Right now, the pair were walking towards the Twilight Elevator, a massive tube extending from the planet’s surface into space. With it they could traverse Epsilon’s gravity without the need of a spaceship and the Twilight Elevators were often a means of transporting Gems and equipment from ship to planetside. At the top of the Twilight Elevator, the Sculling was docked and was currently being resupplied. The Sculling could be seen docked at the space-port on top of the Elevator, it was a green octahedron with four mounted lasers at its corners. It was a fairly standard Imperial ship and the pair had served aboard a couple previously.

“What do you think we’re going to do?” 5XZ asked.

Their orders to report to the ship to act as technicians had not specified the ship’s purpose.

“Probably just supervising a cargo transport,” 5XB responded.

“Yeah, but it’s a warship?” 5XZ said. “I mean it’s not one of those hand ones, but it looks like it’s supposed armed for a fight don’t you think?”

“Maybe we’ll be in Alternian controlled space?” 5XB proposed. “You know how they can be, we’ll probably need some weaponry on board.”

“So… do you think they’ll be any cute quartz’s?” 5XZ asked, a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

“Amn’t I enough for you?” 5XB asked, a half serious smirk on her face.

“Nah, I want someone buff and tough,” 5XZ said, a completely non-serious smirk on her face.

They arrived at the base of the Twilight Elevator and entered with a team of Rubies who were loading missiles and some odd-looking instruments they two didn’t recognize.

“Wonder what that’s for?” 5XZ asked as a Ruby fusion lugged in a giant monitor with wires attached to suction cups on it.

“I think it’s for examining organic vitals,” 5XB said, surprised at the device. “I remember using smaller versions during the Incursian war when we were torturing them.”

“Huh, that makes this whole thing even more interesting,” 5XZ said.

The pair stood to the side where they would be out of the Rubies’s way, and when the loading was complete, the doors were shut and the elevator took off.

The speed to which the Elevators moved to exit Epsilon’s gravity was enough to kill organics with weaker constitutions; to a Gem with their gravity adapting physical forms, it was nothing. Still 5XZ fell on her back with her limb enhancers outstretched as if she was on a roller coaster and the power of gravity was forcing her onto the ground.

“Come on, it’s more fun when you put your hands up like this!” she said, excitedly.

“You look ridiculous,” 5XB said, standing as upright as she would under normal gravity and clearly unimpressed.

“Aw, you’re just mad because you’re not having as much fun as I am.

The elevator eventually slowed to a stop and completed its journey. 5XZ got to her feet and in a few moments, the doors opened up and a group of Quartzes walked in to unload the cargo. 5XB and 5XZ exited to the spaceport. 

Epsilon Spaceport 3 was a large platform connected to the planet via the Twilight Elevator. It was one of 5 spaceports for the colony and it had four docking stations for ships. There was a single building which acted as the communication hub and where the technicians regulated the mechanics of the Twilight Elevator. There was a small storage for excess equipment and a miniature armory which housed laser-based weaponry. There were eight light cannons on the platform, two bordering each docking station. In the event of an invasion, the Twilight Elevators were very easy targets with their size and the way they stuck-out, so armaments were necessary. The colonies closest to Alternian space had twice as many cannons and a team of Roaming Eyes protecting them in case of attack.

The Sculling was the only ship docked at Epsilon Spaceport 3 and it was currently being serviced. The two Peridots watched as the Quartz soldiers easily hauled the massive equipment onboard the ship, 5XZ taking the chance to wink at one of them. The pair walked toward a tall Garnet near the command building. She was dictating orders to another Peridot, with a square-hairdo. The pair figured the Garnet was in charge with her imposing stature and the way she was speaking to the Peridot. The Peridot had a holoscreen deployed and was carefully running down a checklist.

“Peridot’s 5XB and 5XZ reporting for duty,” 5XB said, saluting the Gem.

“These are the pair that we’ve ascertained,” “Squaridot” said. “As you can see, they are late.”

“Nice to meet you to, you square asshole,” 5XZ said, smiling, even as 5XB sharply jabbed at her with her elbow.

“Fuck you, you insignificant pebble,” Squaridot barked.

“I am Hessonite,” the Garnet said, not bothering to address the bickering. “I will be your commanding officer for this mission. We have a crew of 10 Quartzes, 2 Rubies, and the 4 of us. We will be departing in a few hours once the equipment is installed. Briefing on the mission will begin with our departure.”

“Understood,” 5XB said.

“So… why all the secrecy?” 5XZ asked. “Ooh, is it a sabotage mission? Are we going to kill some rogue Quartz? Are we going to try get back to Skarro? Are we-”

“Mission briefing will begin with our departure,” Hessonite repeated, curtly. “I suggest you two find your rooms and then assist in the installation of the cage.”

With that Squaridot pressed a button, and both of the Peridots felt a message sent to their circuitry. The deployed their holoscreens which showed the blueprints for a device on board the ship which the Quartzes were unloading.

“We have a schedule to keep,” Hessonite said. “Dismissed.”


	2. The Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The finishing preparations.

5XB, 5XZ, and Squaridot assembled the massive device within the ship’s hanger. 5XB realized that it was a contraption to trap some kind of large creature, restrain, and possibly torture it. The computers she’d seen did indeed seem to be some kind of vital sign monitors.

“So, what exactly is it that we’re doing?” she asked Squaridot.

5XZ was levitating a prong like attachment for the cage with the tractor beam function of her limb enhancer and moving it into place. The ship’s hanger had been cleared out and this device, resembling the ribs of an unfathomable monster, could deploy from it. The floor was refitted to open like a massive pair of doors and the cage could descend, opened like a huge pair of jaws, to clamp down on whatever it is that they were after.

“The captain will disclose that information to you at her choosing,” Squaridot replied.

5XB took note of the annoyance in Squaridot’s voice and concluded that she was permanently in “bitch mode.” Squaridot was running tests on the monitor to make sure that it was in working order and from that 5XB could concluded that she had a good idea of what exactly their mission was. For her part 5XB was connecting power couplings together and organizing them to avoid unnecessary tangle. 

“But she told you right?” 5XZ asked, the final rib of the cage put into place. 

“Yes, and?” Squaridot asked, still annoyed.

“Can you, uh, tell us?” 5XZ asked, smiling expectantly.

“It’s on a need to know basis, and you pebbles clearly don’t need to know,” Squaridot responded with a snarl.

“You’ve got an amazing personality,” 5XB said. “You’ll just be a joy to work with, won’t you?”

Squaridot responded with a variety of colorful insults picked up from an old Irken database they’d uncovered. Swearing in another species’ language was a great way to make yourself look like a well-travelled and learned intergalactic space rock parasite. 

 

With the construction of the cage complete, the Peridots went to the bridge wherein Hessonite and the Quartz crew had gathered.

“Gems, look alive,” Hessonite said. “We are on a valuable mission of discovery and capture.”

Squaridot walked up to the bridge’s console and inserted her fingers through the hologram. A projection of a massive cephalopod appeared above the crowd. 

“This,” Hessonite said, gesturing at the projection. “Is a Starmaker. An ancient beast that’s offspring become the stars themselves.”

The crew watched the projection as it rotated 360 degrees.

“It’s unknown how its offspring become stars as they seem to be organic in nature,” Hessonite continued. “Our scientists speculate that the stars they produce are of a different constitution than the standard plasma and heat variety. Regardless, such a being has been spotted in the Blotts star system and we’ve been assigned its capture. Its unique anatomy is a prime interest for our biologists and they can’t wait to dissect one.”

“Geez,” 5XB muttered to 5XZ. “All the way out in Blotts.”

“Unfortunately,” Hessonite continued, nodding to Squaridot who changed the hologram to the Blotts system. “Blotts is largely a dead system. A Weblum has taken residence there and has been consuming its planets.”

The holograph changed to a massive space worm, with the Starmaker appearing next to it for scale. The Weblum was a gargantuan worm with rock skin and two sets of three eyes on its head. The Starmaker was smaller than a single eye.

“The Weblum consumes dead worlds and produces Scaultrite, a highly volatile energy that certain primitive civilizations used to power their space fairing vehicles. It’s barely sentient but we are aiming to steer clear of it as it’s massive and impossible to kill with the weaponry aboard the Sculling. We’ve mapped its line of sight and its path, should we stray into that path, the Weblum can fire a powerful laser from any of its eyes.”

The projection conjured up an image of the Sculling near the Weblum. Their ship was tiny and a laser from one of the beast’s eyes easily destroyed the projected vessel.

“We speculate that the Starmaker may try to use the Weblum as cover for when we try to capture it. Our ship’s lasers will be on a low setting which our scientists believe will stun it. Upon doing that, we will deploy the cage our Peridots have assembled and capture the creature.”

The hologram changed to the Sculling flying over the Starmaker. It shot at the squid with its lasers and the monster’s body went limp. The bottom of the ship opened up and the cage descended like an open claw before grabbing the squid in its maw. It then retracted with the creature until it was completely within the ship and the bottom doors closed.

“After its capture we fly to Nemesis Outpost. We aren’t to do anything to the creature except to scan for basic life sign information and to make sure it can survive the trip back. Our scientists do not know whether or not it could survive light-distortion. After we capture it we are to analyze it onboard to see if it could be distorted. I’d prefer if we didn’t need to make a quick get-away, which is why I don’t want us to arouse the suspicion of the Weblum. Are there any questions?”

The hologram deactivated and Hessonite fixed her gaze on the crew. 

5XZ’s limb enhancer shot up and Hessonite nodded at her.

“If we don’t light distort, will we just be flying back the long way? Won’t that take too long?”

“It would, yes,” Hessonite responded. “The return trip might take a while and on top of that, we worry if the stun blasts may have a fatal effect on it. We’ll play it by ear when we capture the beast. Any other questions?”

5XZ raised her limb enhancer a second time.

“Can the Starmaker fight us?” she asked.

“We are collecting data on that,” Hessonite responded. “As far as we can determine it can use has two elongated feeding tentacles that it will try to defend itself with, but it is unlikely that it has enough strength to damage us. Any other questions?”

5XZ’s hand shot up again.

“Yes?” Hessonite asked.

“Can this thing think? Is it sentient?” the Peridot asked.

“Yellow Sapphire and the rest declared that to be irrelevant,” Hessonite responded. “Any more questions?”

5XZ’s hand shot up again, this time 5XB rolled her eyes.

“Yes?” Hessonite asked, beginning to get annoyed.

“Can we name it?” 5XZ asked.

“Ok, that’s enough questions,” 5XB said, reaching up to pull 5XZ’s arm down.

“Does anyone _else_ have any questions?” Hessonite asked, ignoring the Peridot.

“How important is this mission?” one quartz asked. “What’s the price of failure?”

“Luckily for all of us,” Hessonite responded. “There will be no severe repercussions should we fail. No executions or demotions. This mission doesn’t have major priority.”

There were a few murmurings of relief from the assembled crew.

“Wow, imagine getting shattered over some slimy space monster,” 5XB mused.

“What if we named it Solar Searcher, or Lifegiver, or Squishy?” 5XZ said to her.

“Don’t name it,” 5XB responded. “Don’t try to project some kind of identity onto this thing. It’s just an experiment.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nemesis Outpost was a location in my previous fic "A Calculated Cruelty". Its history plays a larger role later on. If you don't want to read it, here's a summary: 
> 
> The outpost is a massive warship from a race of metal men that are the size of the Diamonds. Their empire stretched further than the Gem Empire but ultimately fell centuries ago. Their race is extinct and the Gems plunder their technology. They've got several bases set up in their ship including one for major scientific experiments.


	3. The Sculling's Advance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Discussions

The Sculling flew through space. They’d come out of light distortion near the edge of the Blotts system and the last two days they’d spent advancing into it. Attempting to come out of light distortion so near the Starmaker was a risk that Hessonite didn’t want to take. They could spook it, possibly into the reforming particles of their ship. The main issue, however, was the potential to attract the Weblum. The Starmaker would occasionally fly within the worm’s vicinity, though never within the range of its lasers; Hessonite speculated that the beast’s sentience was higher than they anticipated. Such a dispersal of energy would no doubt attract the monster to them and they’d lose time warping away. Similarly, the Starmaker would probably attempt escape should the Weblum be disturbed. Their arrival outside the system allowed for better planning. Squaridot would adjust the ship’s heading in accordance to wherever the Starmaker would be flying, allowing them to approach in a consistent manner. Hessonite firmly believed they’d be bearing down on the creature in a matter of days. The ship was currently on auto-pilot, as the Peridot’s talents were needed elsewhere.

**Captain’s Quarters**

Hessonite leaned against the backboard of her bed and activated a holoscreen from her gem. She pulled up the Starmaker’s heading. They intended to fly a course that would eventually intersect with the Starmaker’s, allowing them to capture it. Hessonite double checked their heading with the Starmaker’s line of sight and calculated a hypothetical scenario wherein it would change course should it see their ship and become scared.

Hessonite felt a shift in the bed and looked up from her calculations. Squaridot was lying next to her on her front, naked much like Hessonite, but with her face near the opposite end of the bed. Her limb enhancers were discarded on the floor and she’d been previously gripping the sheets with her own gem created hands. She was still panting a bit, and her green body was dotted with sweat. Hessonite watched idly as a drop slowly slid down the curve of the Peridot’s rear.

“What’s our heading?” Squaridot said, propping herself up on her elbows and turning to Hessonite.

Hessonite patted the spot next to her on the bed and Squaridot sat up and slid back to it. She checked Hessonite’s holoscreen, whilst the taller gem put an arm around her shoulder.

“Our heading seems fine,” Squaridot said, her voice a technician’s monotone. “The Starmaker has not detected our presence and the Weblum is far away with its back to us. I speculate we’ll be in firing range within 5 days. Engines are still on standby in case we need a course correction.”

The Sculling was flying with its engines off at the moment. They needn’t be on in space where the lack of fiction couldn’t slow them down like it would on a planet. Still, should the squid turn, they’d need to fire them up to change direction.

“May I return to the Bridge?” Squaridot asked, looking up at Hessonite.

“You don’t need my permission for that,” Hessonite responded.

Squaridot nodded and got of the bed, materializing her clothes on in an instant. She opened up a pair of panels on the end of her enhancers and slipped them over her arms and legs. Soon, she stood complete; taller than she was and far less vulnerable. She rotated her floating fingers in a circle around the wrist, happy to have them again.

“I’ll see you on the Bridge,” Squaridot said as she turned to go.

“Wait,” Hessonite said, getting out of bed and materializing her clothes.

“Hm?” Squaridot asked.

Hessonite walked towards her, placed her hands on the Peridot’s shoulders, bent down, and kissed her gem.

“Now, you may go,” Hessonite said.

Squaridot blushed and quickly trotted out of her room. Hessonite watched the door close and went back to her bed. She projected the hologram again. They would need to retrieve the Starmaker soon. Emerald had given her a timeframe to operate on, but Hessonite had gotten the preparations done with more than enough time to spare. The beast’s capture could hopefully yield important answers to the formation of stars and potentially a new method of nuclear fusion. 

 

**The Bridge**

 

Hessonite entered in the middle of the Peridots discussion. She made her way to her captain’s chair, elevated above the rest of the bridge, and sat down. The Bridge was to have six staff, including the Captain. The three Peridots were at the front handling navigation, steering, and weaponry. On either side of the Peridot’s were two Amethysts one operating a peripheral scanner for early warnings and the other on standby for the deployment of the cage. Hessonite pulled up a holoscreen from her chair and idly shifted through it as she listened to the Peridots chatter. They seemed to be speculating on one of the most infamous Gem rebels, Rose Quartz.

“I think she was an organic,” 5XB said. “Some Gem scientist got curious and shot an injector into an organic lifeform to make her. She’s some kind of abomination, a gem at the core of a monster of flesh and meat.”

“Nah, nah,” 5XZ said, shaking her head. “I think she’s the product of some kind of union between one of the Quartzes and one of the organics. Some kind of violation of nature, born with a solid physical form but a Gem’s constitution.”

“You can’t seem to keep your mind out of the gutter, can’t you?” 5XB remarked, unimpressed.

“Hey I’m serious!” 5XZ shot back. “Weird mating rituals aside, what if she’s some kind of hybrid?”

“I think she’s an Off-Color,” Squaridot said. “Some defective Gem that escaped a purge and thought people like her deserved to live. Makes sense if you think about it, her soldiers were all composed of freaks like that.”

“Maybe she was a gem monster?” 5XZ said. “You know how they do those Gem amalgamations right? Where they fuse gemstones together? Maybe she was one and that’s why she became what she became.”

“Nah, gemstone experiments happened post-rebellion,” Squaridot said.

“How do we know that?” 5XB asked. “That could just be Homeworld lying to cover up some kind of mistake.”

“Are you insinuating Homeworld makes mistakes? And further, would lie?” Squaridot asked, incredulous.

“They tell us that there’s no Off-Colors on planet,” 5XB replied, coolly. “Having seen that multi-segmented fusion run amuck on the surface, we know that’s a lie.”

“I had this idea that Rose Quartz might have just been all Gem,” 5XZ continued. “No physical form, her whole body was her Gem. She’d just be some kind of rock monstrosity.”

“Like a Rock Lord?” 5XB asked, thinking about the strange species the Empire had encountered past the Theta Cluster.

“Smaller, and less monstrous looking,” 5XZ said.

“That’s impossible,” Squaridot said. “That’s just some dumb fiction concept.”

“What if there were multiple Rose Quartzes?” 5XB said. “We know that it was a class of Gems, so what if she was multiple people who all pretended to be the same figurehead? They’d all contribute to the ‘legend’ of Rose and if one were to be executed, there’d be more where that came from.”

“Hm, that would make sense,” Squaridot said, stroking her chin.

“Oh, I got a better one,” 5XZ said, excitedly. “What if she was the planet Earth? Like Rose Quartz was only a physical form with no core. The planet itself objected to our empire hollowing it out and raised a being to fight us off? Or maybe one of our injectors dug too deep and the Gem that was to form simply became a consciousness within the planet?”

“That’s even less reasonable than your ‘all gem and no physical form’ theory,” Squaridot said.

“Yeah, but the idea that she was an Off-Color is too boring and pedestrian,” 5XZ said with a shrug.

“What about you Captain?” 5XB said, turning in her chair to look up at the Captain’s seat.

“Yeah,” 5XZ said, excitedly. “You fought in the war? Did you ever meet Rose Quartz? What was she like?”

They were all looking at her now. Hessonite realized that the Amethysts were also following the Peridots’ conversation and they too were looking at her for some kind of confirmation.

“I think,” Hessonite began, scratching her chin and thinking. “That Homeworld encourages these insane rumors about her with their silence. Intentional or no, they’ve created this legend and almost deified her. She was just a Gem. Nothing more, nothing less.”

That was what was insidious about her, Hessonite thought. She wasn’t some entity born for a special purpose. Just a Gem with some ideas in her head that were above her standing.

“Stop trying to play our greatest enemy up as some kind of celebrity,” Hessonite said, her words more dismissive than angry. “She’s rotting on that forsaken planet along with the rest of the rabble. No need to build her up bigger than she needs to be.”

5XB shrugged at that and turned back to her monitor, Squaridot doing the same. 5XZ seemed to think on her words more than the others, even as she too turned back to her screen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Peridot 5XB is referring to Fluorite as the multi-segmented fusion. That's another minor event that occurred back in "A Calculated Cruelty". Not much to that, she just escaped from custody and ran into a crowded street.


	4. The Chase

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Sculling finally comes upon the Starmaker.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Weblum is a reference to Voltron Legendary Defender.

The Starmaker was within their visuals if just barely. Hessonite had used the ship’s cameras to take a detailed live feed of it and pull it on the big screen. The crew watched as it contorted, drew its tentacles up, and pushed them back to propel itself forward. It looked as if it was moving through water.

“How does it propel itself?” Squaridot asked. “It’s almost as if its swimming, but to do that it needs to push against something and in the space, it should be impossible.”

“It’s an organic being that can, allegedly, create the stars,” Hessonite responded. “Coupled with its ability to live in the vacuum of space and its propulsion, this should be an interesting scientific discovery.”

“Estimated time to when we cross paths is 27 hours and 43 minutes,” 5XB said, examining the instruments.

“Keep our heading,” Hessonite said. “We’ve entered a critical point in our pursuit. Peridot 5XB, keep track of its course and relay any changes to me. It will see us soon, if it hasn’t already. Should it attempt to flee we must be ready to course correct.”

Peridot 5XB nodded and turned back to her console, tracking the Starmaker’s projected flight path. Their ship and the squid were two blips on the map with a line showing their heading. She’d circled the point they were to intersect.

“Engines?” Hessonite asked.

“Standing by,” Squaridot said.

“Weapons?” 

“Ready to rumble,” 5XZ said.

“Good,” Hessonite said. Then she pressed the ship’s speakers. “Crew on standby, we’ll reach the Starmaker in 27 hours.”

Time seemed to crawl afterwards. 5XZ was bored. Unlike the other two who had an active role in steering or tracking, she was just stuck waiting for their signal. She couldn’t just leave the station as she needed to be ready at a moment’s notice. She tried to play pong on her holoscreen, only for 5XB to flick a finger at her head.

“No distractions,” she hissed.

5XZ groaned and leaned back in her chair. She looked up at the Captain. Hessonite hadn’t moved since she gave the order for the crew to be on standby. She simply watched the camera projection of the Starmaker. Her mismatched eyes scanned its body, watching the muscles in its tentacles move it forward, watching its eyes for any sign of focus or intelligence, and watching its mantle flutter as if gliding through an ocean.

5XZ sighed. Gems could focus on small distinct tasks for great lengths of time. What’s an hour to an entity that would live for millennia? To 5XZ it was still an agonizing period of boredom. 

Finally, at 15 hours and 9 minutes, something happened.

“It sees us,” Hessonite said. 

The five other Gems on the bridge pulled the Starmaker’s visage up on their screens. It had indeed turned its gaze to the ship. It had acknowledged their presence and whatever sentience it possessed was analyzing its predicament.

“High alert,” Hessonite said into the ship’s speaker. “The Starmaker has noticed us. We are proceeding with caution.”

“Any change in its bearing?” she asked 5XB.

“Not yet,” the Peridot responded.

“Guns?” Hessonite asked 5XZ.

“Primed,” 5XZ responded, taking more interest in her surroundings.

“Missiles?”

“Not even activated, do we need them?” 5XZ asked.

“No, we most certainly do not want to blast it with conventional ordinance. We risk losing our quarry.”

“Should we increase speed?” Squaridot asked.

“Negative,” Hessonite responded. “It will likely react negatively if it sees us speed up. Proceed at current speed but be ready to engage thrusters.”

Hessonite’s gazed was fixed on the creature’s eye. It was judging them, she knew it. It was gauging to see if they were a threat. What would it do? Run most likely, but what if it were to fight them? Its limbs didn’t look strong enough to subdue the Sculling, but if it were to unleash nuclear fusion upon them like, they would surely be destroyed. Hessonite wondered if it could do that. She was curious as well hence their mission to capture it. Perhaps this diminutive space creature could completely destroy something as massive as a Weblum.

“Captain,” 5XB said. “It’s shifting course.”

Hessonite could see that from her projection. It was moving, twisting itself to face in the opposite direction from their ship. 

“It’s going to make a break for it,” Hessonite said, realization on her face.

At that moment the Starmaker contorted itself, drew its tentacles up and in a powerful surge blasted itself off in the other direction.

“Engage engines!” Hessonite shouted, turning the microphone on to alert the rest of the ship. “Pursue it. Activate weapons, 5XB keep track of its heading.”

Squaridot twisted her arms within the holoboard in front of her, opening the thrustors and shifting their heading. 5XZ began to charge the blasters, double and triple checking that their power was curtailed only to a stun. 5XB worked to replot the Starmaker’s course. 

The Sculling blasted off after the beast, rapidly accelerating in the frictionless vacuum. The Quartz soldiers cleared the main loading area whilst 5XZ arranged the ship’s targeting reticle. 

“It’s fast,” Squaridot said, her fingers coming up from the console to activate the remaining rockets. 

“Guns almost charged,” 5XZ said. “Aaaaand… alright, they’re on full stun. We can get at least a dozen blasts out of each prong.”

5XB didn’t say anything as she worked to amend the creature’s and the ship’s heading. The Starmaker was moving in a zig zag pattern, serpentine, likely to prevent them from landing a shot.

“Clever monster,” she thought.

The Sculling’s heading was a straight line and the Starmaker’s decision to move in the zig zag pattern was allowing them to rapidly gain on it. 5XB noted that the creature seemed to “swim” upward to reach a point, but its movements seemed to plateau.

“Why isn’t it taking advantage of its movement in a 3D space?” 5XB wondered aloud.

“Who cares,” 5XZ responded. “Easier to shoot.”

“Wait,” 5XB said, urgency finally entering into her voice. 

She zoomed out of the star chart she had pulled up to map the chase. The dead planets and asteroids came into view but it was clear that they weren’t a threat; the Weblum was.

Though it was still far away, the Starmaker was fleeing towards its line of sight. Should it see two objects moving, even at the distance they were at, it would surely fire at them.

“Captain, it’s going for the Weblum,” 5XB said.

“Damn,” Hessonite said, chewing her thumb in frustration. “How long until firing distance?” 

“15 seconds,” 5XZ said.

“How long until we’re in the Weblum’s sight line?”

“25 seconds,” 5XB said.

“Fine enough,” Hessonite said. “Fire when in range but be prepared to be fired upon.”

“Roger,” Squaridot said, her fingers flying to the side jets should they need quick horizontal movement.

“Eight seconds!” 5XZ said, the four laser prongs of the Scullying already lit up. “Seven seconds.”

The Starmaker made a dip in its course and Squaridot angled the ship to go after it. Hessonite was already forming a plan on how to deal with the oncoming Weblum blasts. From behind it she could see one of the creature’s eyes was on them, watching them to see what they would do. Squaridot pushed the ship to an acceptable limit to keep up.

“Four seconds,” 5XZ said. “Three seconds, two seconds, one!”

She fired all four of the lasers. The Starmaker immediately took a more erratic zig-zag, dodging three, but the fourth struck its feeding tentacle. Hessonite could see the beast’s eye wince, pain registering on what could pass as a face. Hessonite smiled at that.

“Good,” she thought, “I want this thing to really feel that it’s hurt.”

“About to enter Weblum sight,” Squaridot shouted.

“Proceed!” Hessonite replied. “Steering rockets prepare to activate.”

The Starmaker finally flew into the edge of the Weblum’s sight line, followed by the Sculling. Seeing two small, far away forms out of its peripheral vision didn’t really register with the Weblum, allowing the Sculling to fire a second volley which the squid dodged completely.

“Does it see us?” 5XB asked.

“Of course,” Hessonite said, eyes never leaving the onscreen Starmaker. “It’s a big dumb animal and hasn’t realized that it’s going to shoot us yet.”

When 5XZ lined up her next shot, the first blast from the Weblum came. Squaridot’s dodge threw her aim off and the shots flew above the Starmaker.

“Damnit I’m trying to aim!” 5XZ shouted.

“I’m trying to keep us alive!” Squaridot retorted.

The Weblum began to blast more. The Starmaker and the Sculling weaved around its lasers. The space worm was on their left, and Squaridot’s fast use of the side jets saved them from at least three close calls. 5XZ’s fourth and fifth shots also went wild, her aim thrown off at the last second. The squid’s graceful movements allowed it to maneuver around the shots easily. 5XB and Hessonite knew it had lead them here on purpose; it couldn’t fight them, but the Weblum could.

“5XZ, activate the portside missiles,” Hessonite said, furiously tapping at her holoscreen. “I’m sending you these coordinates.”

5XZ accessed the missiles on the left side of the ship and mapped them to the coordinates Hessonite had given her. She fired them off and they flew out at odd angles, none even in the direction of the Starmaker. 5XB watched their course on her monitor. They flew further from the ship and closer to the Weblum, each in disparate directions. 

“That’s brilliant,” she thought.

The missiles, being closer and more plentiful targets, were given priority in the Weblum’s mind. It refocused its lasers on them and began firing them off. The missiles were destroyed easily but their spread-out pattern drew the beams from the Sculling. With its attention focused elsewhere. Hessonite watched the lasers soar over and beneath the ship as they targeted the rockets; their positionings allowed the angels of the lasers to miss them completely. 

5XZ fired her sixth volley, and the Starmaker was struck with all four blasts. Hessonite smirked as she watched its eye glaze over. Though it was unconscious, the beast wouldn’t stop, space having no force to act upon it, so Squaridot pushed the ship again to overtake it. As they flew over the unconscious Starmaker, she gave the order to the Amethyst in charge of the cage.

The bottom of the Sculling opened up and descended like the claw on a crane game. It grabbed hold of the creature, its length matching the beast’s, and drew it into the cargo hold. In their haste to close the doors, the end of one of the Starmaker’s feeding tentacles was lopped off. 

“Sloppy,” Hessonite thought. “But at least it’s done.”

“Last missile destroyed,” 5XB said.

“Prepare for light-distortion,” Hessonite said, speaking to the Bridge and into the microphone. “No time to get out of the Weblum’s vision; let’s just hope the Starmaker can take it.”

Squaridot powered up the Gravity Engine, her fingers swimming through the console. 

“Get us to the planet Chaar,” Hessonite said. “It’s the closest area in friendly space.”

“Roger,” Squaridot said.

“Incoming,” 5XB said as the Weblum fired another laser.

“We’re away,” Squaridot said, activating the Gravity Engine.

Space bent and distorted right as the Weblum’s laser struck their ship and sent them careening through warp speed.


	5. Taking Stock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After being knocked through warp, the crew tries to get their bearings.

“Damnit!” Hessonite shouted as their damaged ship tumbled through the distorted in-between.

The other five gems at the Bridge gripped the console as the ship shook and threatened to shatter. All over the Sculling Amethysts were thrown to and fro, their physical forms unable to account for the rapid changes the Gravity Engine of a damaged ship was doing to them.

“Ship’s integrity is compromised,” Squaridot yelled. “That blast hit us right as we were distorting. If we proceed, the ship’s going to fall apart.”

“What’ll happen to _us_?” 5XZ yelled.

“We’ll probably be smeared across dozens of planets,” Squaridot yelled back.

“Bring us out of warp,” Hessonite yelled. “We’re away from the Weblum, we’re not risking destruction.”

“Affirmative,” Squaridot said, adjusting the ship’s controls accordingly.

“We’re coming out of warp,” Hessonite said into the ship’s microphone.

Squaridot cut the Gravity Engine and the ship began to solidify, exiting distorted space. Hessonite checked the screens and saw that they were recalibrating themselves. The crew around her was dizzy, with one of the Amethysts stuck into a contorted shape and 5XZ having removed herself from her controls to rub her head.

“All personnel,” Hessonite said into the microphone. “Find your nearest console and check in. I need a headcount.”

5XB pulled up her holoscreen and ran a diagnostic on her limb enhancers to make sure everything functioned. Satisfied with that, she rebooted the scanner and starmap. She checked the Galaxy Positioning System to try and get a bearing on their position.

5XZ just looked out the window.

They had ended up in a solar system. A single star burned brightly tens of million miles away from them. 5XZ could see 8 planets and a total of 10 moons. 

“Where are we?” Hessonite asked 5XB when the starmap came back online.

“Don’t know,” 5XB said. “According to our starmap, we’re outside of friendly and known space.”

“Wow, that Weblum really hit us,” 5XZ said.

“I’ve pinpointed Chaar,” 5XB said. “It’s position at the end of our allied space means its closest to us, but we’d need the Gravity Drive working again. We’re even further from safe territory than we were in Blotts.”

Hessonite watched her console and saw that the last of the crew checked in; everyone was accounted for.

“Damage report,” she said.

“Gravity Engine is offline,” Squaridot said. “The feedback from the blast hitting us as we were distorting damaged it. I’ll need to check it to see how long repair will take.”

“Hull integrity is still good,” 5XZ said. “The blast destroyed the bottom left gun, and tore a hole in the ship, but the bay area where the Starmaker is undamaged. Barring our spent left side missiles and the destroyed blaster, weapon systems are still online.”

“Navigation is working,” 5XB said. “Won’t do us much good because we’re out of known space.”

“Life signs?” Hessonite asked, looking out of the window at the various planets.

“Scanning for silicone and carbon-based life,” 5XB said, watching her screen intently. “Nothing to report.”

“What about robots?” 5XZ asked.

“Scanning for power output is showing me some civilizations on nearby planets,” 5XB said. “No signs of life, and while it’s not a full scan, I’m mostly seeing non-functional machinery.”

“Another dead sector?” Squaridot asked.

“Hm,” Hessonite said, stroking her chin. “Alright, it seems that we’re in a safe location now. Let’s examine the prisoner.”

“Keep watch,” Hessonite said to the Amethysts. “If there’s any change alert me immediately.”

“You three come with me,” she said to the Peridots.

The four departed the Bridge and strode to the hold.

“Monitors show it’s still intact,” Squaridot said, pulling up her holoscreen. “Vitals are stable.”

“Good,” Hessonite said.

They entered into the bay area. Two Amethysts were inside keeping watch over the Starmaker. After the ship had rematerialized and they’d checked in, they hooked up the monitor to its person.

Its eyes were closed, and Squaridot believed that the slow heart rhythm indicated that it was still unconscious. 5XB inspected the cage, noting that it restrained the tentacles well and would prevent its escape. She wondered if the creature really could unleash nuclear fusion upon them; no cage could stop that. Still this one was built to stun the beast should it need to.

“Status report,” Hessonite said to 5XZ.

“Well…” 5XZ said, searching through the monitor, “It’s uh, big? And asleep.”

She touched the creature’s side with her limb enhancer.

“And Squishy.”

“Alright, you’re not giving any more reports,” Hessonite said, and then looked to Squaridot.

“Not much we can discern as of now,” Squaridot said. “I’m going to begin scanning. Maybe then we’ll have some idea as to what this thing is made of.”

“This thing gave us a good chase,” Hessonite said, “And clearly it is capable of thinking and planning. I want it under constant watch.”

5XB nodded and added that note to the agenda. They’d be assigning teams of two to guard it. 5XZ circled the beast, only to slip and fall flat on her face.

The other three spared a glance at her. The blood from the beast’s severed tentacle had pooled on the floor beneath it. Squaridot noted how the blood had already clotted in the stump. Had the liquid interfered in the ship during light distortion, they’d be in a lot more trouble.

5XB walked over to help her up, B’s setting her limb enhancers to connect themselves to the ship’s ground via magnetism unlike 5XZ’s. 

“Just clean that up,” Hessonite said.

Squaridot nodded and deployed a team of cleaning Robonoids to the scene. 

“Diagnostics are connected to the ship’s main computer,” Squaridot said. “We can monitor from the bridge if we so wish.”

“Good,” Hessonite said.

“Yeah we can-” 5XZ started to say before a raise of Hessonite’s hand cut her off.

“Delouse this one,” Hessonite said to the Robonoids, and they blasted 5XZ with cleaning fluid.

“I’m not having you track alien blood onto my bridge,” Hessonite said.

Squaridot let out a quiet little ‘nyeh heh heh.’

“Aw c’mon,” 5XZ said as she was knocked onto her back again; her protests turned to gargles as a Robonoid sprayed her face mid speech, likely at Squaridot’s behest.

After that the Robonoids proceeded to the rest of the blood-stained area; hosing it down and vacuuming up the remains to be disposed of in space. 5XB helped her companion up.

“If you’re going to make some joke about fluids on my face, or me being knocked on my back, save it,” 5XZ said, annoyed.

“Noted,” 5XB replied with a smirk.

The four returned to the bridge after double checking that all of the monitoring devices were set up; Hessonite ordering the two Amethysts to continue guarding the beast.

“Now,” Hessonite said, as they entered the Bridge. “Chart the nearest planet and set us down. We’ll begin repairs as soon as possible.”

“Roger,” 5XB said, activating the starchart and locating the nearest planet. 

When the destination was put onscreen, Squaridot piloted the ship towards it. The planet had no name, none of them did. Their location in regards to known space was only half known, Hessonite noted. They had an idea of where they were in regards to their enemies and allies, but where they were, was a massive dark spot on their maps, the result of a lack of exploration. The Starmaps contained several such spots. Exploration had always been a point of debate amongst the leadership; especially with how taxing it was on their personnel and resources with little guarantee of reward beyond better maps. There were many benefits to exploration, but Yellow Diamond was too absorbed in her conquests to care, Blue Diamond had withdrawn into herself, and White… well Hessonite had no idea what went through that Diamond’s mind. 

Still, as 5XZ ran more scans on the planet to show that it was indeed devoid of life whilst 5XB reported to her that there was a fairly large city that Squaridot was steering to, Hessonite wondered just what kind of situation they’d found themselves in.


	6. Screwing Around

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 5XB fishes 5XZ out of her room for her shift.

5XB knocked on 5XZ’s door and waited impatiently. She knew 5XZ was in there, she could hear movement. It was her turn to oversee the micro tests on the Gravity Drive. They’d settled down on this planet for two days and had been diligently repairing the ship. The three Peridots used their limb enhancers to levitate a number of panels they’d had on hand for repair and the Amethysts held them in place whilst they used the lasers on their limb enhancers to weld them. The ship’s hull regained its integrity but the destroyed blaster would need to be replaced at a spaceport. Hessonite ordered the half the starboard side missiles to be transferred to the portside; she felt it more efficient to halve their remaining missiles so both sides could be defended. The Weblum’s blast on its own wouldn’t have been so bad except it had hit them right as they distorted, and it had cut a long gash through the ship’s side. Still, they had replaced the damaged exterior and the ship could make it through another warp.

For all intents and purposes the system they’d arrived in was uninhabited. They knew that the captain was planning to explore the planet, but all scans showed no signs of life, sentient or not. Several planets had height signatures though, likely from lava flows, so they speculated that life signs could potentially have been obscured by them. The sun was the most curious part of the system. It’s radiation output was inconsistent and fluxuated even though the planet’s position to the star didn’t warrant such a change. It was hard to speculate its age though Squaridot posited that it was a younger star. Even stranger was its size. Though it dwarfed the other planets logically it was too small and shouldn’t be able to keep the 8 planets around it at the distances they orbited. 

The Gravity Drive was the ship’s pressing issue. The Weblum’s blast striking the teleporting ship caused a disastrous feedback to the Drive. Had they remained distorted longer their ship would have been torn apart. The Gravity Drive was repairable, according to Squaridot at least. She promised to have it up and running, but they’d spent the better part of yesterday trying to get it to work. Devices that bent the laws of physics were hard to repair, that was obvious. Engineering and theoretical physics were a dangerous combination. Squaridot was determined to get it done though. 5XB thought she was just trying to show off for the captain. They’d initially been in shifts trying to test if the drive could perform minor scale distortions through the repairs they’d performed; but Squaridot had taken over that so 5XB and 5XZ were left to keep tabs on the Starmaker. She knocked on 5XZ’s door again.

“Damnit, open up,” 5XB called. “I can hear you in there!”

She sighed and opened her holoscreen. She used her authority to bypass the lock and open the door. It slid open and-

“Gah! Shit,” 5XB grumbled, turning her head away slightly. “Alright, all of you out! Now!”

5XB stood to the side as the occupants of the room slowly filed out. An Amethyst walked past, throwing her top back on and zipping up her pants. She winked at 5XB on her way out. A second Amethyst followed, her clothes materializing back onto her. A third Amethyst trudged out topless, having only bothered to put her pants on; she fixed 5XB with an annoyed stare.

With the three gone she turned to 5XZ who was in the process of rematerializing her clothes.

“Really like killing the moment, don’t you?” she said.

She was still wearing her limb-enhancers and her scattered fingers recollected themselves around where her hands should be.

“Do that on your down time,” 5XB said.

“This is my down time!”

“No, you’re still working and your shift starts now.”

“But it’s all the same! The Starmaker can’t go anywhere, it’s just a staring contest between her and that angry Ruby!”

“No excuses!”

5XB grabbed her companion by the limb enhancer and dragged her down the hallway. 

“Are you mad because I didn’t invite you?” 5XZ asked.

“I’m mad because I’m pretty sure you were trying to dump your shift on me,” 5XB responded.

“Aw, I think you’re jealous,” 5XZ said, a mischievous smirk on her lips, “I think- wait a minute.”

She stopped and looked at her limb enhancers. 5XB turned around in annoyance.

“Aw crap, I lost a finger,” 5XZ said, holding up nine floating touch-stubs.

5XB gave her an expression that displayed a kind of cynical annoyance that always seemed to radiate around her.

“How did you-” 5XB started to say, before she was interrupted by an Amethyst running up to them.

“Sorry, looks like I forgot to return something,” she said, 5XB recognizing her as the Amethyst who’d winked at her.

She reached down the front of her pants and produced 5XZ’s lost finger; tossing it at her. As soon as it got close enough, it floated towards its enhancer and joined the four others in orbit.

“Knew something felt a bit off,” the larger gem said, before bending down and giving 5XZ an open-mouthed kiss, which the Peridot gratefully returned.

“I’ll see you in the next free moment,” she said, before trotting off.

5XZ stared dreamily after her.

“She’s so strong,” 5XZ said. “She really worked me over with her-”

“No,” 5XB cut in. “No more horny talk, you’ve got a squid to monitor.”


	7. Fixing Frustrations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Squaridot works to fix the Gravity Drive.

“Damn,” Squaridot said. 

The diagnostic was bad. The Gravity Generator went from being unable to distort itself, much less a ship, to being unable to turn on. She sighed and sat down, pulling up the interior view on her holoscreen. She and Hesesonite were currently in the engine room, attempting to sort out their ship.

“I think it’s the powercoupling,” she said. “It can’t get enough output through and now it’s just failing.”

Behind her, Hessonite sat, browsing through the data retrieved from the Starmaker’s monitors.

“I think you need a break,” Hessonite told her, not looking up from her monitor.

“Every moment we spend here puts us further from our goal,” Squaridot said.

“And every time you restart our generator you further risk damaging it,” Hessonite responded, looking up to meet her gaze. “We can fix a coupling, we can’t fix the ship if a failure throws us through the cracks in reality.”

“But-”

“No, you need a break,” Hessonite said, deactivating her own holoscreen. “I’ve decided that we’re going to fly out into the nearby city and do some investigating. The lack of civilization here has been bothering me, and from we saw from space, their technology is advanced enough that we may be able to salvage something.”

“Hessonite, I can do this,” Squaridot said, calmer.

“I know you can, this is will help,” Hessonite responded. “We’re going to power up a Roaming Eye and gather a crew. We’ll see what the city is like over the hill.”

Squaridot sighed and Hessonite got up to her and pulled her to her feet.

“This is for the best,” she said, running her hand through the Peridot’s frizzy hair.

“You’re right, I suppose,” Squaridot said, bumping her head against the taller gem’s chest.


	8. Ready to Leave

5XB and 5XZ entered the holding bay to hear the end of a threat. The two Rubys were currently on duty. One was the sweetest little thing they’d ever met with a gem on her navel and an adorable smile; the other was an asshole with a love of stabbing things and a gem in her eye-socket. The Eyeball Ruby was a comrade to Hessonite during the war. She sometimes bragged about burning down the villages of the organic inhabitants of Pink Diamond’s colony. 

“This thing keeps staring at me,” she said to the two Peridots. “Keeps judging me. I was thinking of slashing out its eye. That ought to make it think twice about where it looks. Make it as pretty as me, don’t you think?”

“You really need some kind of help,” 5XZ said.

“Don’t hurt the experiment,” 5XB stated.

“I think the Starmaker is just curious,” The Naval Ruby said. “Just think of how long she’s been alive! The things she must have seen. According to the scans she’s outlived countless civilizations. She’s older than the war on Earth! She’s older than the metal soldiers on Nemesis Base! She’s could be as old as the Diamonds themselves, maybe older! Oh, how fascinating.”

 

5XZ pulled up the information on the Starmaker’s monitor. They had discerned its heart rate, its internal organs, and more of its anatomy. So much of it they were still trying to decipher either because of the being’s alien nature or the alien nature they found inherent in organics. There seemed to be a slowness to how its body functioned that Squaridot believed was simply old age showing. Its eyes followed them around the room; 5XZ wondered if it was planning an escape. Squaridot knew it was but was confident that it could not leave its bonds.

“Pulse is steady, brain activity is normal, tentacle wound shows no sign of infection, and it’s still conscious,” 5XZ said, annoyed. “Can I go now?”

“No,” 5XB said.

“Aw c’mon!” 5XZ whined. “I want to get back to-”

5XZ was interrupted by the ship’s speakers blasting out an announcement from Hessonite.

“All crew are to meet on the Bridge.”

“I’ll take it!” 5XZ said, before turning on her enhanced heel and heading out the door.

“Oh Boy!” Navy declared, clapping her hands together. “I wonder what the captain has in store for us.”

“We’re probably going to finally see outside.” Eyeball said.

The three followed 5XZ out the door.

Soon all 3 Peridots, 2 Rubies, 10 Quartzes, and Hessonite were all assembled on the Bridge.

“I’m putting together an away team for a mission,” Hessonite said. “We’re going to explore the city over the hill with a Roaming Eye. I’m going to split our group: 7 Gems will be on the away team and the other 9 will remain here.”

The Rubies, Peridots, and a single Amethyst were all assigned to the away team with Hessonite. Hessonite assigned Amethyst 3XQ, a Gem with long hair tied in a tight braid whom 5XB recognized as the one who fished 5XZ’s touch-stub out of her pants, as the leader whilst everyone was out. With the assignments arranged, the teams split up.

Hessonite lead the away team back to the hanger, accompanied by two Amethysts whose new assignment was to watch the Starmaker. Once there, Squaridot’s touchstubs formed her holoscreen and she drew out the Roaming eye. A glowing circle appeared on the ceiling of the hanger and a Roaming Eye appeared and descended to them. The Sculling was equipped with 3 sub-ships: A Roaming Eye and two escape pods. The eye could fit most of the crew and between them, the pods could seat 4. 

“Wait a minute, we have a Roaming Eye onboard?” 5XZ asked. 

“The answer to your completely necessary question about whether or not we have a ship that’s right in front of you… is yes,” Squaridot said, annoyed.

“There’s no Gravity Drive on this Roaming Eye?” 5XZ asked, ignoring the needlessly sardonic reply.

“No,” Hessonite said. “Sadly, it’s an older model Eye. Higher-ups haven’t really come around to retro fitting this one yet.”

“That’s… wow, that sucks,” 5XZ said, “Thought we had a way out of here for a moment.”

“Emerald recommended a Hand Ship for this mission,” Hessonite said. “I thought it was too unwieldy and large for such a mission. The lasers required too much work to convert to fire at such a small frequency to stun, while the battleship didn’t need conversion.” 

“General Emerald sanctioned this?” 5XB asked, surprised. 

Hessonite replied in the affirmative as the Roaming Eye settled down on the hanger floor and the seven team-members entered. Hessonite again took seat at the command chair in the center. Navy sat behind the piloting controls and the other 5 gems spread to the rest of the chairs. Hessonite performed a small flight check and ordered the bay doors opened. From her window she could see the Starmaker, watching them as it always did. The Roaming Eye dropped from the ship and flew off towards the small hope they had for salvage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eyeball's just made because she wasn't invited to the orgy.


	9. The City

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _You hated them and that hatred created me. So then did you love me or was there no love left in you?_

The city was massive. Before them toward a civilization that seemed to be stacked on top of itself. The ground layer’s buildings rose up to become pillars for a second layer. That second layer’s foundation was a massive plateau with buildings extended from it to form the pillars for the third layer. The buildings that emerged from the plateau of the third layer stretched up to the sky. The architecture was utilitarian for the first two layers. Buildings were all identical rectangles meant to house as many people as possible. What they could see of the third layer showed much more extravagant structures likely owing to them not needing to support another layer.

Peridot 5XB thought of Homeworld and how their beautiful cities were built atop miles of hollowed out rock that had been abandoned after their birth. She further theorized that the extravagance at the top inferred a class system and the wealthy would live above the others.

“Which level?” Navy asked from her pilot chair.

“Fly us up,” Hessonite responded. “Land us on the top layer.”

The Ruby angled the controls skyward and Hessonite turned to Squaridot.

“Any response to our hailing?” The Garnet asked.

“None,” Squaridot replied. 

“Seems it really is abandoned,” Hessonite mused.

5XZ looked out the window as the craft ascended. The city was coming closer and she could make out more of the details. Most of the buildings on the 1st and 2nd layer stretched up to the layer above them. The buildings were all uniformly grey and geometric in shape. The plateaus that made up the bottom of the layers had windows on them and 5XZ inferred that they were inhabitable as well. 

As the top view came into sight, Hessonite pointed out a clear area which seemed to be a landing pad for ships near the northwestern edge. They were to be divided into teams. 5XB, 5XZ, and Navy would explore one section and Hessonite, Squaridot, and Eyeball would explore the other. The Amethyst was to stay with the ship and await further instruction. Should they encounter something hostile, the Amethyst was instructed to fly the ship as backup.

When they set down the ship, the two teams departed. 5XZ and 5XB activated the helicopter function on their Lim Enhancers and took off for the northeast sector. 5XB picked up the smaller Navy and the three flew off. Hessonite, Squaridot, and Eyeball all walked South.

“Oh wow, flight!” Navy said, intrigued at the enhancer functions. “I wish I could do that!”

“I wish I could shapeshift,” 5XB said, monotonously. “It’s a trade-off.”

“I’m sorry,” Navy said. “I just thought it would be a useful ability is all.”

“Of course, it is!” 5XZ shouted, doing a loopty-loop with her enhancers. “This is awesome!”

“Our flight capabilities are limited,” 5XB said. “We need an atmosphere to fly. Out propellers need to push air down to make us rise up. Space’s lack of air, or at least lack of significant air, prohibits our flight.” 

“Yeah, but some Peridots have rockets built into their legs,” 5XZ said, as she spun herself like a ballerina, or rather like a Pearl. “I think it’s only in its experimental stage though. Loading engines into a leg as well as the energy for propulsion probably takes up too much room.

“That’s what makes the Starmaker so fascinating,” 5XB said. “It functions like a sea organic would. In theory it would suck water into its torso and propel itself forward by releasing that and by using its tentacles to push itself through fluid. Somehow this thing does that in outer space. It will be a fascinating dissection.”

“Aw don’t remind me about that,” 5XZ said, flying closer. “I feel like we just met her and now we want to cut her open!”

“It feels unnecessary,” Navy said.

5XB shrugged and said, “That’s what the higher ups want. Who are we to question it?”

5XZ chose not to answer that, and instead pointed at an important looking building.

“How about we check there?” she said.

Navy and 5XB glanced at the structure. It was 32 stories high and painted in a lime green color. It wasn’t one of the taller buildings but it was situated in a fairly important manner. The Peridots noted how the streets below them all seemed to angle to the courtyard of this building. This was a major destination.

The architecture had more in common with the buildings on the lower floors. It was geometric and for the most part on the plainer side. There was a roof-top garden, 5XB observed, but nothing grew in it. There were only rows and rows of dirt that lacked any nutrition or micro-organisms. The trio alighted on the roof and looked around. 5XZ stepped off the side and stood perpendicular to the structure; her limb enhancers allowing her to walk on the vertical face.

5XB walked to a control panel set up alongside one of the rows of dirt and placed her limb-enhancer on it. The panel immediately flared to life as her Gem technology hacked into it and pulled its feed into her visor. The panel offered her little insight except that this was a garden used for growing vegetables and experimenting with pollination. She removed her hand from it and walked towards where Ruby was.

Navy an elevator that protruded from the roof. 5XB walked up to her and put her limb enhancer on the touchscreen pad that seemed to indicate its controls.

“Here we go,” she said, smiling as its data poured itself into her visor. 

She called the elevator up to them.

“The power is still on?” Navy asked.

“Seems to be,”5XB said. “I’m willing to bet that it’s solar energy.”

5XZ walked along the side of the building and looked through its windows. Through them she could see a few offices and laboratories. Nobody was there and nothing seemed out of place. It felt lonely and sterile, but 5XZ figured that was how laboratories were supposed to feel like.

She walked back to the roof when she heard 5XB calling her. She watched them open the elevator and the three filed in. 5XB activated the elevator’s touch screen and watched all the floors appear.

It was quite a display. The elevator had all 32 stories mapped to it, but it also descended into the bottom layer of the city which was marked as having 15 stories. From there it descended into the 2nd level and the building it attached to was 100 stories. After that it reached into the 2nd layer, another 15 stories; and then into the 1st level, another 100 stories. 5XB observed that after the elevator descended its additional 15 stories through the 1st layer that it further descended into the planet. 

“Holy crap, it just keeps going,” 5XZ said, amazed.

5XB scrolled through the various descriptions for the different floors. The stories on the 3rd level all were devoted to offices and labs. All the exits in the Layers were just to hallways to access them. The Layers seemed to house construction and defense offices and barracks. The 2nd level was for businesses and housing and the 1st level seemed to be mostly devoted to housing. After the 1st layer, the floors were protected by an access code which 5XB easily circumvented as she had basically plugged herself into the system. 

“Secret base,” 5XB said, smiling. “Bingo.”

“Oooh!” Navy said, clapping her hands excitedly. “Let’s go there!”

5XB touched one of the laboratory symbols and the elevator began its descent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The architecture of the city was inspired by the city in the anime Girl's Last Tour. It's like a cake with all the layers stacked on each other.
> 
> I'm referring to the areas with buildings on them as "Levels" whilst the parts of the city separating the levels are "Layers". The Layers are all consistently 15 stories in height.


	10. The Library

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _All I ever did was hurt people. I don't know if I ever really felt bad about it. Did you want me to? Or did that just not matter? Did I matter?_

“We’ll get a better understanding of this city via the archives,” Squaridot said, examining her holoscreen.

Hessonite’s team was walking down a wide street. Several cars were parked at either side. None were occupied but most showed signs of age. The atmosphere of the planet wasn’t that conducive to oxidization so rust was slow to come, but still they could see tell-tale spots where the paint peeled and the dust had built up. 

“Have you located them?” Hessonite asked.

“I’m searching for independent power sources,” Squaridot said, approaching a video console.

The city was littered with these video consoles. They were like pay-phones and city maps rolled into one. From them, the trio had discovered that the city still had power. The wiring was good, Squaridot had observed, and from these consoles they’d discovered the City’s name, Domum and the Planet’s, Lapp. Squaridot had downloaded a city map onto the drive in her limb enhancers and located a series of important buildings for them to visit. Chief among them was the archive. She wondered if the other team had the foresight to do that but concluded that they were probably too stupid to bother.

She touched the video console and cross referenced the map she’d downloaded with the one that the console displayed. Satisfied that they were consistent, she lead them on.

“No history for the planet?” Eyeball asked.

“No, that’s why we’re going to the archive,” Squaridot said. “Weren’t you listening?”

“I just thought that those consoles might have some info about the history of this place,” Eyeball said. 

“Think damnit,” Squaridot snapped. “I know it’s hard for Rubies, but just think for a moment. Why would city maps have the history of the planet on them? They’re just built to hold information on how to get around.”

Eyeball glared at her, angry and embarrassed.

“That’s enough,” Hessonite said. “Let’s just get to the archives.”

They arrived at the archives when they rounded the next corner. It was a brown 4 story building with a decorative arch as its entrance. Hessonite read the inscription on it:

“ _A memento of the past so our future will be different_ ”

“Quaint,” she muttered.

“Do you think there’s any traps?” Eyeball asked.

“Yes, brilliant,” Squaridot said, rolling her eye. “They booby trap their public learning area, safely protecting it from themselves.”

“You know damn well that’s a possibility,” Eyeball snapped.

Hessonite strolled past them and opened the door. Satisfied that a trap hadn’t sprung, she entered into the library. The interior was suitably expansive. An information desk stood, abandoned, in front of her and behind that was an open three-story structure. To her left and right were glass cases full of artifacts and historical placards describing them. There were numerous video consoles: one at the information desk, one at each glass case (presumably to access details about them), and a dozen scattered throughout the library. The roof stretched high as the 2nd and third floor were opened above them to show rows and rows of books. A couple of shandeliers hung from the ceiling and they flicked on as Squaridot accessed the power from the front desk’s console. She ran the data with ease, absorbing the histories of the planet that she could discover and learning of where she could access the city’s main database.

Hessonite’s eyes were drawn to the back of the room, however. Adorning the far wall was a massive mural depicting hundreds of what she presumed to be the planet’s populace. They all reached skyward, some crying, some hopeful, but all stretching their arms at the painting’s centerpiece: the sun.

“What do you think we have here Captain?” Eyeball asked, walking next to Hessonite.

“I don’t know,” Hessonite said, truthfully.

“The city of Domum was founded upon the liberation of the Grelt Solar System,” Squaridot said, speaking in a clinical lecturer voice that pissed Eyeball right the hell off. “Grelt being the name of this star system. Domum became one of the main bastions of civilization as the occupation had led to the death of most of the population of the… 7 planets of Grelt.”

Squaridot looked up to Hessonite at that. Hessonite scratched her chin, thinking.

“Much of the populace for the system lived here in Domum,” Squaridot continued. “Records stop being updated two centuries ago. Most records leading up to this stopping point are heavily edited and censored.”

“Amazing, this city ended up housing the population of 7 or 8 planets,” Hessonite mused. “It’s large, I’ll give it that, but that must have been quite a culling.”

“Records on the occupation have been wiped,” Squaridot said. “That seems to have been done near the end of the civilization.”

“Download what you can,” Hessonite said.

Eyeball approached one of the bookshelves and pulled a tome from it. The pages were paper and aged fairly well after being abandoned for centuries. Perhaps the lack of micro-organisms contributed to that or perhaps it was the strength of the alien plants that the fibers were drawn from. She flipped through the pages, her gem translating the writing to make her comprehend just like it would recalibrate her physical form to account for gravity. 

It was about taxes.

She growled and tossed it behind her, temptation to light the worthless book on fire successfully fought against.

Hessonite walked towards the mural. The sun depicted on it was surely the one of indeterminable age outside. She made out more of the painting’s details as she approached it. The hands that reached towards it were of several different species. Hessonite recognized one as Silurian, but the rest eluded her. She stopped at the base of the mural and read a plaque at the bottom, her mismatched eyes feeding its alien language to her gem to translate it.

“ _Our Solar Savior”_

_May her light shine upon us poor sinners. May she always inspire us to be better. May she always give us hope._

“Quaint,” Hessonite muttered. 

She turned back to her companions. Squaridot was still downloading the archives and Eyeball was browsing. 

“If the database has been wiped,” Eyeball said, looking from shelf to shelf. “We could find something in the written history.” 

“Wow, a good idea!” Squaridot said. “You finally discovered one of those. First you can read and now this, will the wonders ever cease.” 

Eyeball said nothing to that and moved to a section on history. Hessonite coughed to get her attention and then pointed the Ruby in the actual direction of the history section as she had just walked into children’s fiction. 


	11. The Lab

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Ever since I made everyone go for that walk, I've been so lonely. I feel like I miss you, father, at least I think I do. New people have finally come. I'm so curious about them. Why did they travel here? What are they trying to do?_

The elevator rocketed down, this time 5XZ didn’t pretend she could feel the G-forces, she was too anxious.

“Do you think we should have radioed Hessonite?” she asked.

“It’s fine,” 5XB said, reading the small bits of information she could glean from the floors labeling on the touchscreen. “It’s reconnaissance, that’s all.”

“But our reception is shot,” 5XZ said, converting her touch stubs into a callscreen and receiving another ‘signal lost’ message. “I don’t like this.”

“Scans showed nothing alive,” 5XB said. “This area’s abandoned and even if we run into something we can just blast it.”

With the last statement she converted her left arm into its blaster mode.

“Besides, we won’t go too far,” 5XB said, this time turning to look at 5XZ. “Just a small look around and we’ll go. I promise.”

“I-I don’t know,” 5XZ said, nervously. “Ruby?”

“Oh, it couldn’t hurt to look,” Navy said, her cheery air unbroken. “We won’t be too long.”

5XZ sighed and looked back at the screen. They were almost through the 1st level city and would soon enter the 1st layer. After that was the underground floors. 5XB had chosen a laboratory that was labelled “Solaris Project.” She inferred that they would find some answers about the mysterious scientifically improbable star that hung above them. As they entered the first layer 5XZ could feel a sense of dread welling up within her. They were miles from the ship and the surface, cut off from communication and descending deeper into an enigma that they might not be able to leave.

Navy was excited. It was so much fun to try new things with new people!

The elevator slowed to a stop. The subterranean levels weren’t numbered like the layers or cities. The elevator made multiple stops in different labelled areas and “Solaris Project” had four; 5XB having chosen the bottom most one. The door opened into a darkened space which immediately became illuminated.

The three entered into a large white laboratory. The walls on either side were lined with shelves of chemicals behind sealed plexiglass containers and dozens of computer monitors. Two parallel rows of tables stood at either side of them, each filled with organized data pads and microscopes. 5XB went over to a console on the right wall whilst Navy and 5XZ made their way inside.

The lab was eerily clean and undisturbed, 5XZ wondered how long it had looked like that. 5XB touched her limb enhancer to a touchscreen console and her fingers moved about, activating and logging into the system. The passwords were eliminated easily with her direct connection and she found a wealth of logs, formulas, diaries, and much more.

The diaries flashed through her viewing visor and she pulled up one that was created at the beginning of the project. A hologram projected in the center of the room; it was of an alien’s face. He had sharp teeth and his visage was lined with wrinkles. His head was encased in a helmet and his expression was hard to judge.

_Primacon’s log. We are to begin the early phases of what I am now deeming Project Solaris. Our Lord High Governor has seen it fit to appoint me as head scientist, as he should._

While Primacon’s voice echoed through the lab, 5XB browsed through more files. She could easily pull them up in her visor, skim them and move to the next one. Her light-based mind easily absorbing and computing the data within them. Elsewhere, Navy and 5XZ walked through the lab, listening to the alien speak, all the while looking at the collection of liquids on the shelves.

_They wasted our sun. Their insatiable consumption of energy is so illogical. Solar energy could last us millennia, but they just drained it for a short-term gain. It’s barbaric! Their race is barbaric! And now they ask me to do the unthinkable._

5XZ and Navy neared the end of the lab. Beyond it was a hallway that had just lit up. The left wall was entirely comprised of windows which looked out into a dark room.

_They ask for weapons. I gave them weapons. They ask for energy sources. We gave them energy sources. Now they ask for more when we have nothing left to give. They took everything. But they just want more. Our lives hang in the balance. So, I did what I had to do._

As 5XZ approached the window, she pressed a button next to it and turned on the lights within.

_Project Solaris begins today._

5XZ and Navy looked through the window. The room behind it was four stories in height, likely where the other 3 elevator points let off. There were a number of cranes within it, each parked in a section to the right, all in a neat order. The room itself was disorganized, however. There were several machines and wires strewn about. Neither gem could recognize their use.

_They provided us with one. I never thought I’d see it with my own eyes. It’s magnificent._

Navy found an entry way to the large construction area and the pair entered. It too was abandoned, much like the rest of the planet. They made their way around the discarded tech, eventually making their way to the areas that they weren’t able to see from the door. The speakers did not play the recording in the construction area, so only 5XB was privy to its revelations.

_Our future rests in Project Solaris. I’ll build it to the best of my ability. It will be a weapon, but not for them, for us. It will be our tool of war and… our savior._

Peridot 5XB began browsing through the Solaris files. She could see pictures of when the construction room was in use as they cobbled together a machine. There was no set species amongst the workers. 5XB could see a few members of Primacon’s race, and judging from the orange horns and grey skin, she recognized a few Alternians amongst them as well. 

_Project Solaris will burn the Lord High Governor and his whole wretched race. I will see their species extinct! I will see their end far before they see mine._

Peridot 5XB examined the blueprints to what they were building in the construction area. It was an encasing and whatever it was, was made to sync with something. What that something was, Peridot decided to look into. It was a casing, she discovered. Meant to connect to an alien species to grant… something to whatever it was Primacon was creating. Her research finally got her to access to the file on what was enclosed. She accessed it and…

“Oh… oh shit,” 5XB said, her eyes going wide.

Within the construction area, Navy and 5XZ found a large panel. 5XZ realized that it was set dead center in the room and was built into the floor. Though it was constructed from alien technology, 5XZ recognized its function.

“It’s a giant warp pad,” 5XZ remarked.

“Really?” Navy said. “Do you think it was used to teleport whatever they built in here?”

“Oh absolutely,” 5XZ said, scanning it with her limb enhancer. “Question is, what did they-”

“We have to go!” Peridot 5XB yelled.

The pair turned to see her standing in the construction area’s doorway, a desperate look in her eyes.

“We need to report to Hessonite, I found something, something really bad.”


	12. Inadequate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hessonite, Eyeball, and Squaridot check out the Spaceport.

Hessonite, Squaridot, and Eyeball marched to the spaceport on Domum. Squaridot again tried to contact the other Peridots only to be met with a message informing her that they were out of range.

“That’s a court martial,” Squaridot grumbled.

“I suspect that the planet likely has a means, natural or artificial, to jam our coms,” Hessonite said. “We’ll try from the ship, after we check the spaceport. The Roaming Eye can submit a stronger signal.”

The information they’d gathered from the library had directed them to the spaceport, on this level, as the main source for advanced ship technology. So much of the archives had been edited and even beyond that there was a major focus to catalogue the history of the top most level rather than the other two. The data stopped on the final layer and barely acknowledged anything outside of the city. What information that they received on the ships that had docked didn’t raise any hopes for the technology level they’d find there.

“So, Captain,” Eyeball said to her. “What do you think happened to everyone?”

“I speculate there was a mass evacuation,” Hessonite said. “There doesn’t seem to be many natural resources on this planet. The plant life is dead and judging by the records, it seems that the aliens who lived here needed them for their food web.”

“I suppose,” Eyeball said, thinking. “But, what if it was something else? Like, I don’t know. They all killed each other?”

“There’s no damage anywhere?” Squaridot said. “You can _see_ that there’s no signs of a struggle, can’t you? I mean I know you only have one eye, but I know that’s not an excuse.”

“Play nice,” Hessonite said as the spaceport came into view. 

The three entered into one of the Spaceport’s hangers and began to search around. Like everywhere else it was abandoned but relatively clean. Several cruiser and transport ships lay docked in the hanger. Their fuel tanks were full and their power cores intact; but they hadn’t moved in centuries.

Squaridot began scanning them for salvageable parts but that only confirmed her fears. Nothing was useful. The Gravity Drive needed to output enough power to bend reality. Light-based Gem Technology could not only do this but make itself compact enough to fit into a ship as small as the Roaming Eye. None of the ships had a replacement coupling that could handle the sheer output of power necessary to get the drive to work. 

Squaridot let out an irritated sigh and Hessonite understood her frustration. What good was technological superiority if it wasn’t maintainable?

“It’s ok,” she said to the Peridot. “It’s more important that we checked.”

“But-”

“Emerald and the others might get a little annoyed, but we’ll take our time and make sure it’s done properly,” Hessonite said, her voice affecting a rare calm for the Gem.

“Emerald’s going to complain about the ship being damaged.”

“Oh, she always does that. That’s just how she is with her machines. I can deal with her easily.”

Hessonite’s attention was drawn to her flashing gem as a call was being placed. She turned away from Squaridot just as the smaller Gem was about to ask her what she meant by that. Hessonite touched her gem and said.

“Hessonite.”

“Captain,” it was the Amethyst they’d left at the Roaming Eye. “Reports have come in from the Sculling. Instruments and energy levels are going haywire. They’ve attempted 2 system reboots. Navigation is shot and so is the positioning system.”

“Those clods probably pressed the wrong button,” Squaridot said, having heard the conversation.

“Perhaps,” Hessonite said, then casted her glance skyward at the sun, still burning bright in the sky. “Nevertheless. There’s seldom we can find here. Let’s collect the other three and head to the ship.”

“Roger,” Eyeball said.

“Wait,” Squaridot interjected. “I want to pull a ship’s onboard computer. See what if that’s wiped to.”

Hessonite nodded and Squaridot entered the nearest cruiser. It was scaled for beings of their size. It lacked a means of warp travel and seemed to just be a people transport between the planets. The ship was blue and could fit about 50 people. Squaridot pressed her limb enhancer to the onboard computer and began downloading its data. A few things stuck out to her. The first was that there hadn’t been data tampering on this one unlike the archives, probably because they didn’t deem it as important. The second was that the computer really wasn’t that important and the information stored on it was minuscule at best. Only 4 of the 8 planets and 3 of the 10 moons could be visited. 6 moons total had scientific outposts that were closed to the public and the 4 other planets were all atmospherically compromised.

One such planet was Praxis, the largest of the system. From what Squaridot could gather it was the Grelt system’s main planet and where the original capitol was. When the occupation was underway, the conqueror’s established their main base on it and renamed it New Polyhex. Their experiments and presence on the planet destroyed its environment so thoroughly, organics could not set foot on it lest the air poison them. Other than these environmental facts, not much was stated about the occupation. Squaridot relayed this information to Hessonite and the headed back to the ship. 

“Do you really think it was an evacuation?” Squaridot said to Hessonite, her voice low to keep the conversation more private.

“There are only a few ships left,” Hessonite responded. “The evacuation likely happened according to plan and not in a hurry. That’s why everything looks so organized.”

“But they left so much behind.”

“It’s all surplus to necessities.”

“What do you think made everyone leave? You said it was a resource collapse, but what could have caused that?”

Hessonite again looked at the sun. She could see the plasma covered surface swirling and shifting much like a planet’s oceans. The heat felt off. The instruments couldn’t place it. Its size was wrong, its gravity shouldn’t be as strong as it was. She looked down at the street again. There was a statue they were passing, the third they’d seen, that was shaped like the sun. 

Its plaque read the same as the one for the mural in the library. 

_Our Solar Savior_

Squaridot consulted her map again, confirming that they were heading in the right direction of the Roaming Eye. Eyeball grumbled to herself. Scouting missions without anything to kill always seemed to grate on her. Hessonite kept pushing her to various front lines as a way to help cure her boredom.

Hessonite plotted their next course of action. They’d need to examine the other worlds. New Polyhex or Praxis or whatever it was called seemed significant. They’d need to deploy their Robonoids. They had 8 prepped for combat and flight with another 12 Flask type units for repairs and scouring. They’d take the Eye and the Sculling to different planets and leave half their Flask Robonoids here to examine Domum. With that they should probably check-

Her thoughts were interrupted by a call coming in. Her gem flashed and she touched it, seeing it was from Peridot 5XB.

“Captain, we’ve got a problem.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a review of the Setting.
> 
> 7 Planets in the Grelt System according to the old information:
> 
> Lapp, Gorth, Praxis/New Polyhex, Milst, Vroth, Krast, and Silt.
> 
> There is an eighth planet which isn't in the old records.
> 
> Most of these names are completely made up, save for New Polyhex which is a reference to a comic book, Lapp which is a character from Dark Souls 3, and Praxis which means process. Silt is a type of soil usually found in or near bodies of water.
> 
> Currently, the characters are on Lapp. The city they're in is Domum which is latin for Sanctuary.


	13. Answers and More Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What did the Peridots and the Ruby find?

“What is it Peridot?” Hessonite asked. “Where have you been?”

“Our scouting party explored the lowest floors of this settlement,” 5XB said. “We lost communication in the process.”

“You should have radioed to inform us of this,” Hessonite said, a little annoyed.

“I apologize, captain, but we found something.”

“Continue.”

“There’s a laboratory, several in fact, located beneath the city. I’ve downloaded anything I could get my hands on. We found something extremely important.”

“Yes?”

“The Starmaker, it’s been here before.”

Hessonite stopped in her tracks.

“ _What_ did you say?”

“We found some blueprints for a machine and an old bio scan of a Starmaker. Comparing it to the one we took it seems to be the same one. It’s been in this system before. And they did… something with it. I’m shooting through the archives right now, but it’s very densely coded. But I do know this. That star is artificially created. It’s called the Solaris Project. From what I can gather the natural star for the Grelt system… well something happened to it and they desperately needed a replacement. The Starmaker was used in some way to make that replacement.”

“Understood,” Hessonite said. “Meet us at the Roaming Eye. We’ll depart to the ship and feed it into our computers there.”

“Roger,” 5XB said, terminating the call.

“Damn,” Hessonite thought.

“Alright, we need to return to the ship now,” Hessonite barked. “Double time. 2nd squad found something important.”

The three took off in a jog to the Roaming Eye. As they approached they could see the Peridots flying over, carrying Navy. They rendezvoused with the Amethyst at the Eye and took off for the Sculling.

“Oh, we saw so many interesting things!” Navy said, smiling as she piloted the ship. “There are so many layers to this city. And deep below it there’s a wondrous laboratory!”

5XB had pulled up the laboratory findings on her holoscreen and Squaridot and Hessonite were reading through them. 

“The archives aren’t edited,” Squaridot mused. “Whatever did that on the surface neglected to do that there.”

“The laboratory was sealed,” Peridot 5XB said. “Perhaps whoever axed the data here didn’t get in.”

“These records allude to a ruling group,” Hessonite said, browsing through the screen. “The records onboard that ship indicated that these are foreign conquerors that destabilized the ecosystems of at least half the planets here in Grelt. The library told us that Grelt was one of the few places that the citizens lived post occupation.”

“So, something pushed the occupiers out,” Peridot 5XB said. “The scientist who made these records, Primicron, seems to be intent on doing that. Perhaps he succeeded?”

Hessonite looked up from the holoscreen for a moment and saw the sun outside the window. Burning brightly as it always did. She looked up for only a moment before turning back to the data.

“The Starmaker?” she asked.

“Of course,” Peridot 5XB said, moving to the appropriate file.

“It was brought here by the conquering military,” she said.

A photo appeared of a giant squid trapped in an electric cylindrical cage. It was the Starmaker they’d captured, however the same as it was then as it was now. Minus the end of a tentacle of course. Curiously it had several scars on it, which were absent in the present. 

_It’s older than all of us. Older than the Lord High Governor and his whole wretched civilization. I know it watches us but I wonder how much it understands us. It must comprehend what we’re doing, perhaps not why. It waits for us to slip up. To give it an opening to which it can escape. It just shows how brutish our conquerors are. To have such an ancient being with so much untapped scientific potential and to treat it like a mere lab rat. To see it only as a weapon. I want to see it as more than that, but I know what I must do._

“Problem is,” 5XB said. “That the Project Solaris files are woefully out of order. They’re scattered throughout Primacon’s database and there is a _lot_ to look through.”

“The Sculling’s computer should go through it easily,” Hessonite said. “This is a good find. Good work.”

Hessonite killed the hologram and the three spread out back to their chairs. 5XZ gave 5XB a congratulatory thump on the back. Hessonite, meanwhile, was deep in thought. They’d be arriving at the ship soon. She thought about all the pieces they needed for this puzzle. What was the Starmaker used for? Where was everyone? Who took over this planet? What connection did the Starmaker have to Grelt’s Solar Savior?

As the approached the ship, Hessonite put a call in and ordered them to deploy their Robonoids in a perimeter around the ship. The robots flew and crawled out as the Roaming Eye flew into the hold to dock. The 7 gems descended to the hold and were met by 3XQ flanked by two other Amethysts.

“Welcome back captain,” 3XQ said. 

“Are the scanners still acting up?” Hessonite asked.

“Afraid so,” 3XQ said, shaking her head. “We’ve rebooted them three times now and it keeps giving us the same thing.”

“You’re probably doing it wrong,” Squaridot said.

“Er, be that as it may,” 3XQ said, projecting a holoscreen. “The latest round of scans on the Starmaker has produced some news.”

Hessonite looked at the holoscreen.

“It’s pregnant,” 3XQ said. “We discovered a clutch of eggs within her. Roughly a dozen of them.”

“Oh my, this is a discovery,” Hessonite said, scanning the screen. “High Command will be most intrigued.”

Hessonite closed the screen and turned to the others.

“Peridot 5XB, download this into our ship’s computer.” Hessonite said. “Have it organize all information on Project Solaris. Peridot 5XZ, check our ship’s instruments. See if you can bring them back online or at least something resembling working order.”

The two Peridots nodded and exited to the bridge.

“No more guards with the Starmaker. I want to be alone with it,” Hessonite continued, and with that the Amethysts and Rubies left.

With just the pair alone, Squaridot pulled up the Starmaker’s scans on her holoscreen.

“3XQ was right,” she said. “They’ve come quite a way in development to. Surprised we didn’t notice them earlier.”

“Alien anatomy is always hard to decode,” Hessonite said.

“Subject has a total of 12 eggs,” Squaridot said, reading off the scans. “She’ll need to give birth soon. Squishy will need to be moved to an adequate medical facility and-” 

Squaridot stopped and re-read the title, seeing that the Starmaker had been given the name “Squishy”. Likely by a Peridot with too much time on her hands.

“I’m going to strangle that idiot,” Squaridot shouted, closing the holoscreen.

“It doesn’t matter,” Hessonite said. “Go to my room. Take the Pak I have on the shelf to the right of the door. I want to try something. After I finish with the Starmaker.”

“Why?” Squaridot asked.

“Our technology might be being disrupted. I want to test the performance of non-gem tech.”

“Ok, Roger captain,” Squaridot said with a salute.

“After that, dismiss everyone. Say they have some free time until I get out. The Robonoids will take watch.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“Everyone’s been working hard. It’s time for a break.”

With that, Squardiot nodded and departed from the hold, leaving Hessonite alone with the monster. 

It’s eye focused down on her which Hessonite met with her steely gaze.

“A dozen youth,” she said. “What shall the science division do with them?”

The Starmaker made no response, but Hessonite knew she was being understood.

“Shall we fashion weapons with them? Emerald would certainly delight in unleashing the power of a star upon an enemy fleet or an enemy planet. Would your children survive the experience I wonder?”

Still no response nor any movement from the creature. Only a single unblinking stare.

“What did you do? I thought our arrival here was by coincidence, just an accident with a damaged generator. But no… you did something didn’t you?”

Nothing, again.

“You altered our path when we were travelling. Brought us here. I don’t know why or how, but you’ve managed it. Are you responsible for messing with our instruments? Gem technology is light based and I’m guessing your anatomy and ability to produce stars grants you a certain degree of control when it comes to light. I’m no scientist, but I know a ploy when I see one.”

Nothing.

“It’s the sun here isn’t it? Everything else is dead. The casualties of a war who knows how many centuries ago. What is it to you? What did they do to you the last time you were here? You’re our prisoner now. We’ll get it out of you sooner or later.”

_You’re a fool._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, all the italics kind of confused me. I used them to refer to the recordings made by Primacon to differentiate them from the present tense. I'm going to be using them for another character's speech for now.


	14. Getting Along

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Peridots argue.

The three Peridots entered the Bridge. Peridot 5XB immersed her limb enhancers into the holo keyboard and began to unload the information she’d gathered into the ship’s computer. Squaridot similarly downloaded the library’s archives into it. Peridot 5XZ pulled up the navigation for the ship. Amethyst 3XQ was right, the instruments were all over the place. The temperature gauge was registering the planet as being in an ice age, the targeting system wouldn’t start up, the starmaps not only showed them near Homeworld but they all showed a rearranging of planets everywhere. According to the Starmaps as they were, half of Blue Diamonds colonies were orbiting Chaar and Earth had jumped ahead to the outer rim. It was a mess. 

“Wow,” 5XZ said. “It’s just a clusterfuck.”

“Let me see,” Squaridot said, elbowing her out of the way.

“Hey I can do this.”

“I highly doubt that,” Squaridot said, annoyed.

“Wow, you’re a real bitch you know that?” 5XZ said, her voice and face taking on a similar annoyance.

“Fuck off,” Squaridot snarled. “We need a reboot of the affected systems. We’ll reset them to factory but keep the central computer as is. The Starmaps are stored in it anyway and we can re-apply them.”

“Duh, that’s obvious!” 5XZ said. 

“Not to the Amethysts!” Squaridot snapped. “And probably not to you either!”

“What the hell is your deal?” 5XZ said. “All you’ve been is a stuck up bitch this whole trip!”

“I’m just fed up with the general lack of competence here!” Squaridot retorted. “We’re stuck here in the middle of nowhere and none of you can get anything done!”

“Maybe we would have been fine if you knew how to steer,” 5XB said, her voice even. “Maybe you could have dodged that last blast?”

Squaridot fumed at that.

“You’re dismissed,” she said through gritted teeth. “The captain said you can all take time off until she’s done.”

“Whatever,” 5XZ said, tossing up her hands and walking out.

With her data finished downloading, 5XB followed her, giving only a small dismissive look at Squaridot.

“Pebbles,” Squaridot grumbled as they left.

She sent a similar message to the rest of the gems on the ship. Hessonite had offered them all a temporary relief from duty.

 

“Stars!” 5XZ snapped as she and 5XB walked down the hall. “That gem is impossible! She’s like the most needlessly hostile stick up the ass I’ve ever worked with! She’s worse than any Agate.”

“Oh yeah,” 5XB said, nodding.

“She just thinks she’s hot stuff because the Captain’s putting it to her every night,” 5XZ said.

“Probably not the best thing to say out loud,” 5XB warned.

“Oh why? Hessonites in the hold and I don’t give a shit what blockhead thinks.”

“If you say so.”

“Fuck, I’m gonna blow off some steam,” 5XZ grumbled.


	15. Heart to Mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hessonite speaks with the prisoner.

“What was that?” Hessonite asked, suddenly on guard.

_I said you’re a fool._

The words flowed through her head, felt rather than spoken.

“So, you really can talk?”

_In a way._

“How did you bring us here?”

_Your technology is light based. The lights that brighten the heavens are my children. Such a manipulation is trivial to me._

“Are you the one messing up our instruments?”

_No_

“So, tell me, why did you bring yourself here?” Hessonite asked.

_You think yourself entitled to my answer?_

“You’re my prisoner,” Hessonite said. “You don’t have much of a choice.”

_Do you think my capture makes you special? I’ve lived for eons flying through this universe. I’ve given birth to countless stars. I’ve watched them burn as bright as they could. I’ve watched their radiance nurture the lives of trillions. I’ve watched them die; I’ve watched myself outlive them. You think yourself as having power over me? You are just the latest in a long line of captors. The Galra, the Covenant, the Kelads, the Decepticons, Primacon, and others have all caught me. All of them tried to use me for their own ends and all have passed on. Their empires, their conquests are almost a blink of an eye to me._

Hessonite smiled. 

“You’re boasts are entertaining, I’ll give you that.”

_They are not boasts. They are facts. I’ve watched so many civilizations rise and fall. Their successes and failures lost to time. Your empire is one of many and they all blend together in an image of would be conquerors._

“How are you speaking to me?” Hessonite asked. “You’re in my mind.”

_Lifetimes ago I encountered a strange group of immortals called the Incubators. They taught me to communicate this way. To see into minds and project my thoughts. They were a curious race of creatures; dedicating their lives to fight against the natural entropy of the universe. They seek to stop the end of our reality yet they feel no empathy for anyone in it. Curious for a race with no attachments to anything in our universe, seeking to save it._

“Not everyone acts logically I suppose,” Hessonite said.

_You speak as if you are an exception._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gonna use italics to represent the Starker "speaking" so recordings and background talk will just be in quotes now.


	16. What's there to discuss?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some Answers and more Questions

**The Bridge**

Squaridot sat at her console in the abandoned Bridge, shifting through the files that Peridot 5XB had downloaded. She growled at them. There was so much useful data here and she hadn’t been the one to find it. She’d been outdone, but she would still be the one to figure it all out. Various phrases and words flashed before her as she skimmed through the data.

“1/3”

“Harvester”

“Lord High-”

“Repurposing”

There was all just so much to it.

Some of the files were corrupted. Squaridot smiled, happy to have found a failing in 5XB’s work. When she accessed them an audio file began to play.

“I see no results,” came one voice.

That voice made her feel a prick of fear in the core of her gem. It was bottomless in its pitch and every word carried a callousness with it. There was nothing behind that voice. It was an absence of compassion, hope, and mercy.

“I said to give it time,” came the 2nd voice. It was much less imposing and sounded older.

Squaridot recognized the 2nd voice as Primacon’s, the scientist who had recorded all of this.

“Your time and my patience are both finite,” the bottomless voice continued. “For your sake and for your people’s sake.”

“You needn’t remind me again,” Primacon replied. “It’s not cooperating with the Daylight Machine.”

“Then make it. Drill into its brain and wire it directly if you have to.”

“You think I haven’t tried?”

The recording ends there. Squaridot shifted to another file. This one contained an image of the Lord High Governor. He was a massive blue robot. Squaridot recognized his species at once. Hundreds of them staffed the titanic spaceship called the Nemesis that Gem Empire had since converted into a scientific outpost. His face resembled a mask more than anything else. It had no visible mouth, just a dip in the lower head where one might be. He had deep set black eyes that conveyed no emotion. Squaridot pegged him for having the compassionless voice. He was titanic; though a bit shorter than Yellow Diamond, he was certainly broader. He carried a large staff in his hand that seemed like the cross between a pick-axe and a scythe. 

**The Hold**  

“Why did you bring us here?” Hessonite asked. 

The creature did not answer. It stared at her still, never having moved.

“Why did you bring us here?” Hessonite repeated. “What happened here that it was abandoned? Why is that sun so strange? What have we gotten into? What did you do?”

Still no answer. If she had an organic body with nerves, then the Starmaker would have touched one. She was getting annoyed with its silence.

“Answer me!” she barked.

Nothing.

Hessonite was getting angrier. She didn’t like being stonewalled much less by a space monster with an inflated opinion of its own importance.

“I can hurt you, you know?” Hessonite said. “You lost part of a tentacle and you can lose a lot more!”

_It didn’t take you that long to issue your threats now didn’t it?_

“Answer my questions,” Hessonite said, her voice low and threatening.

_I’ll give you a hint. Go to the east quadrant of this planet. There’s an area called the Ken Desert. You’ll find some answers there._

With that the Starmaker closed its eyes. Hessonite glared at it. Losing her temper had given the creature a small amount of satisfaction, Hessonite knew it. Still, a lead was a lead. 

**The Bridge**  

Squaridot closed her screen and left the computer to finish organizing the rest. She’d best go and retrieve Hessonite’s device as soon as she should; she’d wasted plenty of time combing through the archives. Still, there had to be something more she could do. Some way to remind her captain that she was the most useful aboard this ship. 

Squaridot bit her thumb, thinking. 

“If I can break down what’s happening here first, she’ll definitely see,” she thought. “Maybe I can set the Pak up. It’s minor but at least that’d be showing initiative and-”

Squaridot stopped and looked up. Standing in front of her in the hallway was the Eyeball Ruby, grumpy-faced as usual.

“Can I _help_ you?” she asked, annoyed.

What was this little gremlin doing standing in her way? Typical Ruby, wasting the valuable time of their betters.

“I don’t like,” Eyeball began, growling out the words. “How you talk to me.”

“And?” Squaridot asked.

This one clearly had nerve. 

“Go back to your room and rub one out,” Squaridot said. “I’m busy.”

Eyeball glared at her.

“You’ve got a shitty personality,” she said.

Eyeball rubbed her gem for a moment, before summoning her knife and flinging it at her in a swift motion. The knife struck Squaridot’s gem dead on with its hilt. Squaridot’s gem exploded in pain and she let out a scream. Another half rotation would have likely ended with her Gem cracked. Had she not had the constitution of a Peridot she might have been poofed right off the bat.

Squaridot crashed to the floor, grabbing at her gem, yelling. Eyeball was on top of her in a moment. She knocked her limb enhancer from her face and put her weight on the Peridot’s chest. She picked up her knife and aimed its blade right at her gem. Squaridot’s other eye looked up at the Ruby in fear, and that… that made Eyeball happier than she’d been this whole trip.

“Now you listen to me you little green bitch,” she snarled down at the Gem. “I have killed dozens of Gems in the past. No matter how big they are, no matter what delusions they have, I killed them all. And if you don’t fix your fucking attitude I am going to cut your gem out of your eye-socket and whittle it down until there’s nothing left.”

Squaridot stared up at her, stunned. She moved an enhancer to grab the Ruby only to be stopped by Eyeball punching her with her free hand.

“You think that you’re special, don’t you? Being the Captain’s little squeeze doesn’t mean anything. She’ll just move on to another Gem when she gets back to port.”

“Y-you can’t-” Squaridot started to say before Eyeball tapped her knife against the Peridot’s Gem.

There was no damage, but a surge of pain emanated from where she was struck.

“Nobody will miss you. You’re a dime in a dozen. You die, I die, they’ll just push out another Ruby or Peridot to replace us. Hessonite’s different. She’s better than us; more valuable than we’ll ever be. You’re nothing but a notch on her bed and something nice to carry on her arm. So, fix your _fucking_ attitude.”

Squaridot stared up at her, still wincing in pain.

“Say it,” Eyeball snarled. “Say you’re sorry.”

“I’m… I’m sorry,” Squaridot stuttered.

“Admit you’re a stuck up little bitch,” Eyeball said, pressing the knife to Squaridot’s physical form around the corners of her gem.

“I am, just please stop!” Squaridot said, her voice breaking at the last word. 

Satisfied, Eyeball got off her and demanifested her knife.

“I’ll keep you to that,” she said simply before turning and walking away.

Squaridot stared after her, the Ruby never bothering to turn and look at her. When she rounded a corner, Squaridot quickly looked around, making sure nobody had seen that. She got up and scampered off, not wanting to remain where one might ask questions. Fortunately, Hessonite’s room was in the opposite direction from where that Ruby went.

Squaridot ended up running towards it and locking the door behind her when she got there. She slumped against the door and slid down it until her knees were drawn up to her chest. She looked up at the Pak on Hessonite’s shelf. She knew where the captain had gotten it. Alone in that room and with Eyeball’s words ringing in her head, Squaridot began to quietly cry.

**Amethyst 3XQ's Room**

“God fuck that bitch,” 5XZ grumbled to herself.

“That at me?” 3XQ asked turning to her right.

They were lying on a bed in 3XQ’s room, post-coitus. 5XZ was to the Amethyst’s right, her legs tangled up around one of the purple gem’s. She idly traced a finger through the Amethyst’s braid, while the other 4 drummed a small beat on her chest. The Amethyst had an arm around the smaller Peridot, their pillow talk largely taken over by office politics.

“No, I’m thinking of the other Peridot. With the eye-gem,” 5XZ said.

“So, you were thinking about her then eh?” 3XQ said, smirking slightly. “Were you thinking about her all the time, or just when you were on top?”

“She wishes,” 5XZ said. “What’s her damage?”

“Gems don’t need to have damage to be assholes,” 5XB said. “They can just be assholes.”

3XQ turned to her left, to where the other Peridot was lying. She had projected her holoscreen up and was running through some of the data she’d collected. The Amethyst put her other arm around the 5XB.

“Eh, maybe,” 3XQ said. “So, hey if either of you are in Croix, hit me up. That’s where my unit is stationed. It’s right next to Ryloth.”

3XQ got out of bed and walked over to her desk. 5XB spared a glance at the Amethyst’s toned rear. 

“We’ll keep in touch over the Gem Net,” 5XZ said. “Won’t we B?”

“’Course,” 5XB said, not looking up from her screen.

“You two ever gone to Ryloth?” 3XQ said, approaching a decanter she had on the desk that the Peridots always thought was for decoration. “You haven’t lived until you’ve met a Twi-lek. They’re these aliens with these cool tentacles coming out of their heads that look like hair. They’re a lot more open to relationships with Gems than many other organics.”

“Copulation with organics?” 5XB said, closing her view screen. “That’s certainly… odd.”

“Don’t knock it till you try it,” 3XQ said with a shrug.

“Ooh, what was it like?” 5XZ asked, sitting up in the bed.

“It’s better to experience it. Organic bodies certainly feel a lot different and Twi-leks lack our shape changing abilities, so it was an experience.”

“Sounds interesting!” 5XZ said, smiling.

“Sounds gross,” 5XB said, wincing.

“Still, do you two drink?” 3XQ asked, holding up the glass of liquid. “This is a spirit from old Rylon fermenters. I shifted a taste and digestive system to try it. It’s surprisingly good.”

“No,” 5XB said flatly. “Consuming things is way too complex. Not to mention where it ends up.”

“I’ll try!” 5XZ said, hopping out of bed and trotting over.

3XQ explained about organic organs and bodily functioned and 5XZ altered her anatomy accordingly. Upon drinking it she began chocking.

“Argh! It **hack** feels like I’m dying,” she said.

“You’re putting it in your lungs. It needs to go into your stomach,” 3XQ said.

“Damn, this is way too complicated,” 5XZ said. 

“Told you,” 5XB said.

 


	17. The Fall of Grelt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hessonite discovers some of the mysteries of what happened in the system.

Hessonite strode through the halls at a brisk pace. The Starmaker wasn’t in the mood to talk but she still had a wealth of information to comb through. The computer had singled out several important data files from the decoding and informed Hessonite via a message to her Gem.

She decided to continue to allow the crew their free time while she browsed the data herself. She entered the bridge and sat on her captain’s chair.

“Computer,” she said. “Pull up video file **Invasion of Grelt**.”

“Accessing,” the computer replied.

“Main screen,” Hessonite said.

The screen flashed to life and a video began to buffer. It finally loaded onscreen and Hessonite could see another ship’s bridge. The metal soldiers that they’d uncovered at Nemesis Base staffed the bridge and, in all likelihood, that ship would be built for the Diamonds or the larger fusions to pilot. Through the Bridge windows she could see the bright speeding lights of hyperspace. They were warping. She recognized the Lord High Governor sitting in a captain’s chair. His face deliberately unexpressive and his eyes two black voids to which no kindness could ever resonate. 

“Commander,” the camera-bot asked.

“Broadcast now,” came the low voice of the Governor.

“Acknowledged,” the camera-bot said.

The camera moved to the bot’s console and he began inputting in some codes. On their screen, Hessonite could see 10 ships displayed, the fleet.

“This is Commander Straxus,” the Blue Governor said. “We will be exiting hyperspace into the Grelt System soon. Once we depart we will assume formation and strike the planet Vroth first with a full barrage. Any space craft in range you are to shoot down. The technology level in the system is much lower than ours but they do have interplanetary defenses so **do not** get cocky.”

Soon the ships came out of warp and Hessonite could see the Grelt star system, though much younger. There were space ports and numerous ships that weren’t present today. Straxus’s ships immediately fired upon them. In under a minute a dozen scattered ships were damaged critically and the nearest spaceport’s life support was compromised by a missile strike. Hessonite watched hundreds of organics thrown out of its confines into the harshness of space. 

The Camerabot turned to the console and began targeting the population centers of the planet Vroth. Satisfied with their input, they turned back to the windows to watch the carnage unfold.

“Divide our forces,” Straxus said. “Lieutenant Shrapnel, take your squadron and move to Silt. Begin eradication procedures.”

The Camerabot turned to another window and Hessonite could see three ships breaking formation and flying to the nearest planet to Vroth. Meanwhile Straxus’s ship and the other six fired their missiles at the planet in front of them. 

Vroth’s defenses had come up and they desperately tried to shoot down the orbital barrage with surface to air missiles. They succeeded only partly and Hessonite watched the bombs explode on the planet. The Camerabot brought up a planetside view on their console and Hessonite watched the footage from a city as buildings exploded and walls of fire consumed the fleeing organics.

“Drink it in gentlemen,” Straxus said from his command chair. “This is why we were forged. Combat on a galactic scale. Slaughter calculated to the last digit.”

The Camerabot pulled up computer footage of the three ships that broke formation. They moved towards Silt and had already entered its upper atmosphere. The bottom of all three ships were dotted with gun turrets and they all swiveled into position. Major military bases were targeted and from the ship’s position in the upper atmosphere, their range was vast. They immediately began firing, dozens of lasers cutting through command centers, barracks, airfields, space ports, and many others. Any ship that tried to get up into the air was shot down. Surface to air missiles were eradicated. The turrets fired 6 lasers a second and spun every-which-way to destroy their targets.

A face appeared on the main screen. It was another robot with a silver, black, and yellow visage. Two long silver protrusions extended from his shoulders, and his face had a sadistic grin.

“Commander, shall we deploy the shock troopers, troopers?” Shrapnel asked.

“Approved,” Straxus said.

The Camerabot turned back to their screen and Hessonite saw the three ships drop dozens of projectiles onto the planet. They weren’t missiles, but rather soldiers in atmospheric armor. She watched them crash down onto various cities and emerge firing their weapons at defense forces and fleeing civilians alike. Three of Straxus’s ships similarly deployed their atmospheric armored soldiers and began to swarm the planet.

“This is less of a battle and more of a slaughter,” Straxus said. “But, all’s fair in hate and conquest.”

Straxus pressed a few buttons on his console and announced to the ships.

“You three will remain here. The other three will come with me. Praxis is the largest of the planets here. That is the one we will take for our new base.”

The Camerabot nodded and Straxus’s ship and three others turned their sights towards Praxis. A small defense force was already forming. Hessonite could see over 50 ships on the Camerabot’s screen. All dwarfed by Straxus’s warships.

The recording ended there, but Hessonite could figure out how it went. Nothing in this system could defeat the invaders. Still, they’d left at some point, and that was before all the records ended and the planets became vacant. What had happened?

Hessonite leaned back in her chair, tenting her fingers in thought. 

“Computer, search Primacon’s recordings for the earliest,” she said.

A few data files flashed before her and one was selected. As it played Hessonite took notice of the sloppy, jerky camera movements. The Camerbot on Straxus ship was far more professional and clearly recording it for future events. This in all likelihood was a home movie.

The Camera moved around, focusing on walls, then stairs, and then a door. Hessonite heard the camera person’s voice talking to someone.

“Alright, you’ve got your present?” the camera holder asked.

“Yes,” came another voice, likely a child.

An arm, the camera operator’s most likely, came into frame and pushed the door open. 

“Surprise!” they both yelled at the figure in the room.

Hessonite recognized him as Primacon. He was hunched over a desk typing something. The room seemed to be his study. 5 holoscreens were projected around him, a bookshelf was to his far right, and the carpets were a deep shade of scarlet. Next to Primacon a green cycloptoid robot was holding a datapad and typing something.

He looked up at them, smiling. The child ran up to him, giving him a present. Hessonite saw the camera holder pass a mirror as she moved to him. They were all members of the same species. They were humanoid, with brown wrinkled skin, and had sharp teeth. Hessonite could see that they were taller than her.

Primacon turned from his work and picked the child up.

“Martul, how are you?”

“Fine daddy,”

“And what of you Cielra?”

“Just open your presents,” the camerawoman, Cielra, said.

“Alright pause,” Hessonite said, and the video stopped playing. “I don’t have time for this saccharine crap.”

“Besides,” Hessonite thought. “From his anger in the later tapes, they were most likely killed in the invasion. How quaint, he kept a video of them.”

She idly wondered about Squaridot. The Peridot should have called her by now and retrieved the Pak. Hessonite opted to let her go at her own pace. She selected another video, this one of Straxus. It was titled: **Grelt’s Final Surrender**

The Camerabot turned on their feed and entered onto the bridge. Straxus was standing in the center, his Scythe-axe in one hand. He faced three holoscreens, each with an alien on it. 

“A month of your attack has lead us to the unanimous decision,” one alien said. “The planets of Lapp, Gorth, and Milst all will surrender to your forces.”

“You’re surrender is unconditional,” Straxus said, his hollow tone indicating that it was a statement rather than a question.

“Of course,” the alien said.

“And now I shall now present you _my_ conditions,” Straxus said.

“Yes,” the alien replied, he didn’t look happy.

“1st is Complete disarmament,” Straxus said. “All military and civilians will relinquish their weapons. 2nd is an unlimited access to your planets resources. 3rd is your scientist’s cooperation with our military. And my 4th demand is for one third.”

“One third?” another one of the aliens asked. 

“Yes,” Straxus said. “For every three citizens, one is to be executed.”

“What?!” shouted the alien.

“These are the conditions I demand of you to accept your surrender. Should you refuse my terms your populations will be reduced by much more than only a third.”

“This is preposterous,” the representative from Lapp said.

“You will be carrying out the culling,” Straxus said. “Prove to me that you can control your citizens and your military.”

“Please, reconsider,” One leader asked.

“Do not test him,” said the leader of Lapp. “They’ve killed millions already. This is a mercy.”

“No,” boomed Straxus. “This is no mercy. This is only an offer. Agree to my terms or face extermination.”

With that, Straxus ended the call.

“Brilliant sir,” the Camerabot said. “They’ll exterminate their own. Saves us the ammunition.”

“Of course, Flip Sides,” Straxus replied to her. “But even beyond that. I want to see how far these fools will go in the name of self-preservation.”

The video ended there.

Hessonite sighed and pulled up the next one. There was a lot to get through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't describe Flip Sides. She's a small blocky black and pink robot with a visor and mouth covering. She has a camera on the side of her head.
> 
> So now we have Straxus, the commander and Lord High Governor who instigated all of this. His whole bit about the 1/3 isn't a reference to Thanos. It's a reference to Decimation, a punishment in the Roman Army wherein punishment was issued by having a tenth of the cohort (group of soldiers) killed to send a message and to make sure they were loyal.
> 
> Cierla and Martul are some of the only characters created from whole cloth. Honestly I don't like them. They're very throwaway just like everything in Grelt but they need to have something of a purpose. And like Hessonite said, they're long dead. I didn't want to even take the time to develop them because that'd take the story even more away from the Gems.
> 
> Originally I put the scene with 3XQ and the two Peridots at the start of this chapter because I didn't want it to come after Squaridot crying, but it worked better last chapter because it was one of the Downtime bits.


	18. Contemplations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Squaridot reflects on her relationships and her life.

Squaridot was still leaning against Hessonite’s closed door. Her legs and arms were splayed out and she was drained. She’d stopped actively crying and the pain from her gem had mostly subsided. She stared into space. Hessonite hadn’t called to ask her where she was with the Pak. Maybe she found the Starmaker more interesting? Nobody else would ask about her. The Peridots hated her, the Amethysts avoided her, and that Ruby would cut her Gem out in an eyeblink.

She finally got to her feet and walked over to Hessonite’s shelves. They were filled with odd knick-knacks from various alien worlds; much like Emerald’s quarters. The Pak was an alien backpack that was surgically attached to various members of the Irken species. Hessonite probably took it from one of the old battlefields.

Squaridot picked it up off the shelf and sat down on the bed. She stared at the trophy; a reminder of a conquest from times gone by. She put it down and leaned back on the bed. She could smell Hessonite in the sheets. 

“Was I always this pathetic?” Squaridot thought. “Crying and smelling bedclothes? Does Hessonite think I’m pathetic? Just a small hanger-on gripping at her coattails? Does she love me? Or am I only something to amuse her, just a gem beneath her stature she can play with.”

Squaridot looked at the sheets and then looked at her hand. She lifted it up and watched the fingers rotate around the wrist stump. She thought about the Era 1’s and their real gem created arms and legs. Of the energies they had to spare with their powers and shapeshifting. She always felt the limb-enhancers put her above them. Thousands of data-bases at her finger tips and the ability to be the best agent of the Diamonds she could be. She wasn’t like those other Era 2 Peridots angry and jealous of the Era 1’s.

Without the enhancers she was as small and powerless as a Gemling, weaker even. Gemlings could at least manifest some kind of powers, but her, she had nothing. She’d never thought about removing them until she’d met Hessonite. She remembered Hessonite coaxing her to take them off, wanting to see her “real” self. For some reason all that vulnerability didn’t feel so bad when she was around the Garnet. 

Was that the goal though? To marvel at her deformity? To be able to stare at her small powerless body. Was she laughing at her? When Hessonite was alone or with her high-end Gem friends, would she laugh at the low-ranking Peridot she had wrapped around her finger? No… Hessonite wasn’t like that… was she?

Squaridot thought about crying again. It would make her feel even more pathetic, so she didn’t. She looked at the Pak again. She thought back to Eyeball. The Gem was below her obviously, just an angry Ruby… but Ruby or no she could probably follow through with her threat. Should she tell Hessonite? Tattle to her like a spoiled Gemling?

Who was that Ruby to talk back to her like that? It shouldn’t matter what she thought of her. It shouldn’t matter what they all thought of her… It shouldn’t…

It shouldn’t.

It shouldn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really happy with how this one turned out. I was always debating cutting out this whole subplot with Hessonite and Squaridot because it was bloating the fic and I was struggling with an ending. This was a large part of what convinced me to leave it in.


	19. The Place of a Peridot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Father, remember what you asked me? "What can you fear, for you are a child of the stars?" They've brought something with them... I can't see it... but I think it's her._
> 
>  
> 
> _I'm afraid._

Hessonite called them all to duty the next morning. Or rather what passed as morning. The planet’s rotation was slow, Hessonite just went by the ship’s internal clock. With everyone assembled on the Bridge, she began:

“Gems, I have much more context on the situation. Through the data that our Peridots have gathered I have a better understanding of what has transpired here in Grelt. We will depart to the Ken Desert first and fly to Praxis. Praxis was the capital of the Occupation and the final pieces of the puzzle will be found there. Departure will be in 2 hours.”

Peridot 5XB tried to plot a course, cross referencing the maps Squaridot had found in the library with the planet. The navigation wouldn’t cooperate so Hessonite told her to hold off on it. Hessonite ordered everyone to double check the ship’s systems and placed guards in the Starmaker’s hold. She and Squaridot exited the ship.

Out on Lapp’s ground, Hessonite took Squaridot a quarter of a mile from the ship. Squaridot brought the Pak with her.

“I thought you’d bring it to me much sooner,” Hessonite said.

Squaridot just stared down at the ground, her face grim.

“Peridot?”

“I’m sorry captain,” she said in her monotone.

Hessonite stopped and turned around to her.

“Are you ok?” she asked.

“Do you care?” Squaridot thought rather than said. “Are you just pretending to be concerned? You never bothered to check in on me.”

“What will we use this device for?” Squaridot asked instead.

“Gem Technology is light-based,” Hessonite said. “As such I believe this system’s star is interfering with it. Irken technology is more conventional. I’m going to try to use its star positioning to help us navigate.”

“That’s a good idea captain,” Squaridot said.

“Of course, it was, I thought of it after all,” Hessonite said.

She smiled at Squaridot waiting for a reaction. Self-aggrandization tended to be funny, especially with how much the pair indulged in it. Squaridot didn’t react and just kept looking at the ground.

“Anyway,” Hessonite said, taking the Pak from her.

She activated the alien device and four mechanical legs sprang out of it, embedding themselves into the ground. She released the Pak and let it resume a resting position balanced with its four supports. From the top a rod extended and a satellite dish unfolded. 

Squaridot got down on her knees and began typing on the Pak’s keyboard when it flipped over. She couldn’t access it with her enhancers like the Gem technology or the computers they found in Domum. This was good old-fashioned typing. She connected a cable from it to her limb enhancer and began downloading the Starmaps they’d found in the library onto it. She almost wished that she could manipulate the Pak itself from this connection, but no such luck. With that done, she stood up and let it compute.

“Is there something bothering you, Peridot?” Hessonite asked.

“No.”

“You seem upset?”

“Captain,” Squaridot asked, mulling over what she was about to say.

“Yes?”

“Do I…” Squaridot started to say. “Um… Do you… Er, where did you get the Pak from?” 

“It was a gift,” Hessonite said, smiling slightly. “During the mop up operations carried out at the end of the Irken Campaign we seized dozens of Paks from the Irken birthing centers. She has a few displayed in a couple of her offices. She gave this one to me.”

“Why?” Squaridot asked, puzzled.

“Well,” Hessonite said, turning to her. “That’s just a thing we do. We give people things to make themselves feel better. Our Diamond bestowed me a powerful weapon many centuries ago as a sign of my perfection. Emerald gave me this alien device as… well just as a thank you.”

“Was that all?” Squaridot asked.

“What do you mean by that?” Hessonite said, her face darkening slightly.

“I, I just…” Squaridot mulled over what she was trying to say.

“Again, is there something you want to say?” Hessonite asked.

“Do you… respect me?” Squaridot asked.

“Excuse me?” Hessonite responded, taken aback.

“Do you respect me?” Squaridot asked, with more conviction this time.

“Oh Peridot,” Hessonite said with a sigh. “Is this what this is about? Of course, I love you-”

“No,” Squaridot said, interrupting her. “Do you _respect_ me? Am I worth something to you? Am I just a stop off for you to fuck when you can’t find anyone in your league?”

“Peridot,” Hessonite said, surprised at the outburst. 

“Oh my stars, I’m sorry!” Squaridot said, horrified at what she’d done. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that. Captain Hessonite, I was too caught up. Please, I shouldn’t have done that. I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. I-I-”

Hessonite sighed and placed her hands on the Peridot’s shoulders. She looked the Peridot in her eye and her Gem.

“It’s ok,” Hessonite said. “Just don’t let it happen again.”

Squaridot swallowed hard and nodded. She couldn’t read Hessonite’s face. Was she forgiving? Was she angry? Was she contemptuous? Squaridot settled on displeasure. She felt awful. She really was like a dumb Gemling overstepping her bounds and yelling at her kindergarten teacher. A stupid, childish Peridot who’d deluded herself into thinking she was better than she was.

The Pak let out a noise indicating that it had completed its scan. Hessonite collapsed the Pak and gave it to Squaridot and turned to leave.

“Captain,” Squaridot started to say. “I’m, I-”

“I’ll forget this outburst,” Hessonite said, not turning back around. “Now come, we’ve got a mystery to investigate.


	20. Recording 39

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _I wonder if I had met her... would she have given me a name? Would she give names to us?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This Chapter takes place in the Past.

Recording 39

Flip Sides was recording again. She continued her mission of chronicling Straxus’s triumph. He had appointed himself the Lord High Governor over the planets and was speaking to the representatives of Lapp and Gorth.

“We’ve done what you’ve asked,” the Lapp representative said.

“Mm, indeed,” Straxus replied, examining a half dozen other screens.

On them was the execution grounds that the planets had set up. Millions of bodies were being buried. Aliens chosen at random and culled in the hopes that Straxus would spare the rest of them. Some had been rounded up, others had been shot in the streets. The representative from Gorth was new, as the previous one had volunteered to be part of the third that were executed. 

“We can barely contain the panic,” The new Gorth representative said. “With so many dead there’s anarchy in our streets.”

“Perhaps your scenerio is better than Milst’s,” Straxus said, replacing the screens of the murders on Lapp and Gorth with ones of Milst.

The Milst government had not been able to initiate a culling and the citizens had overthrown the them. They didn’t bother him too much; he’d eradicate them when it came to mind.

“You’ve sent them?” Straxus asked the Lapp representative.

“I have,” he replied.

“Good.”


	21. Desert of Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Sculling flies to the Ken Desert. Hessonite speaks again with the prisoner.

The Sculling flew through the air, heading for the Ken Desert. Hessonite checked the video footage of the hold. The Starmaker still had her eyes closed and her brain waves indicated she was sleeping. They’d discovered that the end of the tentacle she’d lost was regrowing itself. The scar tissue had fallen away and gradually it was regenerating. Hessonite supposed that was to be expected. A millennia of the beast keeping all of its limbs when it was relatively easy to cut one off in their ship door, surely meant some kind of healing factor.

Navy had asked what they expected to find in the Ken Desert, and Hessonite had only responded: answers. She herself wondered what they would see. The beast was needlessly cryptic, Hessonite lamented.

They flew past several solar fields. In all likelihood they were the source of the city’s power. Like all things it seemed, the sun was the life giver on this planet. Its Solar Savior.

Eventually they came to the Desert and Hessonite understood why they’d been told to fly there. Lying in the sands were thousands of bodies. All of them dead from dehydration and left on the planets surface. Decomposition was slow, on account of the micro-organisms of Lapp having been killed, so they all just remained in the sand like mummies.

“The populace of Domum, I presume,” Hessonite said.

The crew took a long look at them. 

“Stars, what the hell happened?” 5XZ said, staring down at the forms below her.

“Looking at them,” Squaridot said, zooming the ship’s camera’s in, “There doesn’t seem to be any signs of a struggle. Nobody fought it. They all just came here to die.”

“This place gets weirder and weirder,” 5XB said. “Surely we’re in danger the longer we remain?”

“Of course,” Hessonite said. “We need to check out Praxis as soon as we can to fix our damn drive.”

“What… what should we do?” 5XZ asked. “About them?”

She gestured at the bodies littering the desert floor. Hessonite looked again. Some died in a stance of prayer, some died holding others be it children or lovers or friends, some simply lay alone curled in a fetal position.

“There’s nothing we can do,” Hessonite said. “Leave them where they lay.”

The Sculling flew over them for a while longer; another scan was performed which yielded the same results. There was nothing for them there and ultimately, they pointed the ship skywards and blasted off, exiting Lapp’s gravitational pull and leaving the planet behind for good.

As the ship braced the atmosphere, one Amethyst in the hold reported that the Starmaker had woken up. Hessonite checked the screen and indeed, the creature’s eyes were open.

“Peridot,” she said to Squaridot after the ship had left the atmosphere. “The Bridge is yours. I need to speak with the prisoner again.”

Hessonite left her captain’s chair and headed to the hold. With the captain gone, Squaridot sighed and turned to the others. They stared at her, or in 5XZ’s case, glared at her; waiting for orders.

“Keep the heading,” Squaridot said.

**The Hold**  

Hessonite entered the hold and dismissed the two Amethysts on watch. The Starmaker’s eye turned to her, staring the orange Gem down.

“We saw what was in the desert,” Hessonite said. “How did you know about them?”

_I guessed._

“Really?”

_Yes. That area was where they first tested his influence and range. That’s where he first learned to hurt them. I figured with the planet abandoned they’d all march there._

“Who? Who did this? Who learned to hurt?” Hessonite asked.

_I assume you’ve seen the testaments of Straxus? He was a vile creature, but beyond that there was an arrogance to his being. His kind believed in an empire that would last till the end of time. The concept of permanence is the biggest lie we tell ourselves._

“You’re not going to give me a straight answer, are you?” Hessonite asked, a little annoyed.

_I will when I care to… maybe._

“Wonderful,” Hessonite grumbled.

_Why do so many people seek to fight against their end? It’s the most futile thing ever but so many strive for it._

“People fear the end,” Hessonite responded. “They fight to prolong their existence as long as they can.”

_We really are strange aren’t we?_

“I suppose you’re right,” Hessonite said, sitting on the Hold’s floor.

_I shouldn’t pretend I’m any different. There was once a time I thought I’d see the Universe’s end. I thought the Starmakers would finally die when it died. I was so young and foolish._

Hessonite only nodded.

_It’s been about 6 millennia since I last saw another Starmaker. He was my mate. I remember him throwing himself at a Space Whale to save me. Since then I’ve never encountered another. Thousands of years and the pain almost feels fresh. He meant the universe to me._

Hessonite cocked her head at the creature. Sexual reproduction wasn’t something she’d considered, but in retrospect she probably should have. Damn organics and their breeding ways.

“How can you still have children?”

_Curious about our mating rituals now are we?_

Hessonite could almost hear a smirk in that mind voice. 

_I don’t know if any other Starmakers are still alive. As time marches on I see less and less. I’ve never gone as long as I have now without seeing any. Our time is at an end it seems._

“And then what? We will have no more stars?”

_It would be arrogant of me to claim that stars could only originate from us. Cosmic dust spawns stars even now. When the last one goes out the universe will end. How long until then I do not know._

“It’s like you said,” Hessonite replied. “All things end.”

_That is why those Incubators were so strangely naïve. They were like a child trying to stop an ocean tide. I wonder if their species still lives? Are they still trying to stop the natural phenomena of the universe?_

“And how do your kind create stars?” Hessonite said, changing the subject. “You’re completely organic in nature, how do you produce the plasma and grow to the immense size necessary?”

_How does a rock attain sentience and the ability to speak? How does it project a hard-light avatar? Why is the hard-light avatar a bi-pedal humanoid?_

“Don’t deflect.”

_My kind are attuned to the cosmos. We collect and expel the dark matter of space to swim through it. Our bodies transform into the balls of gas and heat you call stars. I can give you no real explanation for I have none._

“Why were you in this system?” Hessonite asked, mustering all her ability to sound sincere.

_I am in your mind. You shouldn’t lie about your emotions._

“Just tell me you overgrown cephalopod,” Hessonite said, mildly annoyed.


	22. Obedience

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _I remember the charred metal when you asked me to kill them. All the people under Straxus... you wanted them all to die so badly. I remember you screaming then. Even when it was over you'd still lost so much. Father... you always reiterated that you lost everything then. I suppose I didn't mean anything to you after all._

**The Bridge**

“More archives,” 5XZ said, activating the old video files the computer had decoded. “I want to see more of this place’s history.”

“We’re only to keep the ship’s heading,” Squaridot said.

Earlier it might have been much more acidic but now she just said it almost emotionlessly. Nobody, save 5XB, picked that up.

“I vote we ignore the blockhead,” 5XZ said. “Anybody else?”

All the other gems replied in the affirmative.

“Clods,” Squaridot muttered.

Hessonite had shown them a few of the files already. Straxus’s conquest, Primacon’s home movie, the culling, etc. The crew were curious for the rest of it. 5XZ flipped through a later moment in the chronology, selecting a file that was labelled Primacon’s recruitment. The large screen flashed on as the video started.

Flip Sides was filming Straxus again. They’d set up a base of operations on the planet Praxis and renamed it New Polyhex after the city that he had ruled back on his homeworld. Straxus was sitting on a throne in his newly constructed fortress, listening to the pleas of a trio of organics before him.

The crew recognized them as Primacon, Martul, and Cierla. Primacon was restrained by a pair of troopers. Many of the robots had the same black, blue, and silver color scheme with their faces hidden behind red visors. The Gems could see that for organics, Primacon’s race was quite tall, coming only under half the height of the diamond sized robots. Cierla was holding Martul and speaking to Straxus.

“Please Lord High Governor,” she said. “We’re sorry. Our cooperation will come more readily now. I will control them better.”

Straxus was unmoved. He simply sat in his throne, idly twisting his weapon.

“I’m sorry. Please Lord High Governor. We will try to do better. We can provide you with so much more. The-the locations of the others that have hidden! We can give you the weapons they still have, the tactics they’ve kept from you. Just please, please let us go.”

Flip Sides picked up on a brief comment from the Lord High Governor, it was a soft utterance that the organics could not hear. Her recording managing to include it in the subtitles. 

“Amazing, the fool actually thinks I’m listening.”

He stood up then and said. 

“Bring in the others!”

More soldiers marched in with a variety of other captured prisoners.

“What is this?!” Primacon yelled.

“Simple,” Straxus replied, turning to the scientist. “You’re a hard man to find Primacon. 8 different intergalactic police forces have warrants out for you. I’m impressed with the plague you engineered on the planet Zeist. You organics have wonderful ways of dying. Who would have thought I’d happen upon you here in this backwater system?”

“What’s he talking about?” Cierla asked.

“Nothing,” Primacon snapped.

“This whole sector is disposable, but you,” Straxus said. “You are one of a kind Primacon. Your genius would serve our empire well.”

“Primacon, what’s going on?” one of the prisoners yelled.

“Look at them,” Straxus said, gesturing at the captured with his scythe axe. “I rounded up all of your neighbors and your friends and anyone else connected to you from the archives we got a hold of. This is your world right here.”

“And?!” Primacon shouted.

“They know nothing about you, don’t they? But I suppose it doesn’t matter,” Straxus said, before turning to Cierla.

“How do I ensure your cooperation,” he said, speaking to Primacon but not looking at him.

“Just let Cierla and Martul go,” Primacon yelled. “Please. You have my cooperation.”

“Please, listen to my husband!” Cierla yelled. “I beseech you Lord High Governor. Grant us mercy!”

“Mercy?” Straxus boomed, gripping his axe with both hands. “Mercy isn’t dispensed here fool! Only Death!”

And in one swift motion he slashed his weapon and cut down the pair.

“No!” Primacon shouted, reaching towards them. “You monster. You utter spawn of-”

Straxus swung his weapon again, slicing off Primacon’s right arm. The energy scythe cauterizing the wound immediately.

“I don’t need to cooers your cooperation,” Straxus said, grabbing Primacon by the head and dragging him away from the guards. “I will need no bargaining chips and I will give you nothing. You are only to know what your place is and that you are mine.”

He hauled Primacon in front of the crowd of prisoners. His metal hand could crush the scientist into paste at any moment. He pointed at the prisoners and yelled:

“Look at them Primacon! They can do nothing for you and you can do nothing for them. There is no salvation here. There is no mercy here. There is no hope here!”

Then, to the soldiers he barked, “Execute them!”

“No!” Primacon yelled.

The solder’s transformed their arms into blasters and began firing. In under a minute, all of the prisoners lay dead. Some had yelled at Primacon to save them, others had just screamed.

Straxus released Primacon and the scientist fell to his knees. His friends, his family, and his arm were gone. He was quiet now. He stared at the floor, vision blurry with hot tears of anger. Flip Sides made sure to zoom in on them, it added to the pathos.

“Clean this mess up,” Straxus said to the soldiers and then to Primacon: “There will be no reward for your assistance but there will be punishment for your failure. Understand this Primacon. You belong to us. You belong to me.”

The recording ended there. The Gems stared at the screen for a while longer.

“Nothing good can come of this,” Amethyst 3XQ said.

“It just keeps happening,” 5XZ said, uncomfortable. “These data tracks are an unending series of murder and cruelty.”

“Let’s watch more!” Eyeball said, excited.

Everyone turned to her. 

“Oh, come on,” Eyeball said, rolling her eye. “We’ve done worse! This is a couple acts of cruelty carried out in only part of a campaign. The Diamonds have ordered more or less the same thing.”

“She’s right,” 5XB said, unemotive. “Think of all the organic life we snuffed out when we established our colonies? Think of the planets we exploited just to be born.”

“B…” 5XZ said, a little worried.

5XB shrugged. 

“When does Primacon die I wonder?” Eyeball asked. “You think he was off in that desert with the rest of them?”

“Maybe,” Squaridot replied. “The death in the desert happened centuries after this recording though. Who knows how long Primacon’s lifespan could be?”


	23. Daylight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Starmaker speaks to Hessonite and the rest of the crew watch Primacon's tapes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit of a back and forth between Hessonite and the Starmaker and the others regarding what they learn. Starmaker's bits are still in italics.

_I was flying in the delta sector. Their empire had since conquered it and one of their Worldsweepers spotted me from a captured planet and sent a platoon after me. They did much worse to me than slice off a piece of my tentacle. I was sitting in a hold on one of their science ships. I remember them vivisecting me. It was painful, but I can’t say it was the most painful thing I’ve ever felt. They brought me to Straxus and the small little empire he’d built for himself in Grelt. They found out I was pregnant and sought to use my cache of eggs. I first met Primacon then._

“What did they want with you?” Hessonite asked.

_The same thing you wanted. Organics creating stars, the sheer magnitude of that ability is tempting to would be conquerors. They saw the potential for weapons and energy. My children were a means to that end. Primacon oversaw the experimentation. I thought he was different._

 

Squaridot played the next recording from near the beginning of Project Solaris. Primacon appeared onscreen, recording himself. His right arm had been replaced with a mechanical prosthetic. He was sitting in a chair, his laboratory behind him. Navy, 5XB, and 5XZ recognized the room from the one under Lapp. It was still under construction and they could see a few workers moving in the background. Primacon looked tired, not resigned, but exhausted.

“Straxus has brought a what he calls a ‘Warworld’ into Grelt” he said. “After conquering certain planets, they terraform them and convert them into planet sized battleships. A whole world full of people wiped out to give them a bigger weapon. I’m not even surprised. They placed it into orbit around our sun. And now they’ve given me a new task. We’re expanding my laboratory under Lapp. Warp panels have been installed that will teleport us to the Warworld should they deem that necessary. They’ve even put atmosphere in areas they’d like us to work. I’ve been fine tuning their weapons and developing better and more easy ways for them to kill. It’s nothing I haven’t done before.”

Behind him, the green cycloptic robot from his family movie came in and handed him a holoscreen. Primacon looked at it and tapped a few images that the Gems could not see, before handing it back to him. 

“There’s a machine on-board called a Solar Harvester,” Primacon said. “I didn’t need to be told its purpose. Straxus seeks to snuff our sun out, potentially dooming all of Grelt except his soldiers.”

Primacon grew angry then.

“He just told me that right to my face. They’ll just kill our sun. No apologies, no promises to allow us to live, nothing. All the people they killed, the culling’s they initiated and after all of that we’re left to die. But he’s got something new he wants me to work on.”

 

_I was strapped to a large operating table and flown in on Straxus’s Warworld. Primacon looked at me, to use me for an experiment. Straxus had just used the Warworld’s harvester to destroy the sun in the solar system. He’d condemned everyone to die. Their plants would wither and their planets fall from rotation. I felt sorry for them then. Straxus had instructed him to build a replacement star. That’s where I was to be used. I was pregnant with 8 eggs and at the time and they’d been discovered during my “operation.” Primacon wanted them out so he cut me open again. Two died in that procedure, but he attained the other 6. I remember crying then._

 

On the Bridge the next tape played. Primacon had the six infant Starmaker offspring in large tubes on the wall, all asleep. The blueprints for a machine were on his computer. It was large and oval shaped; an entrance was placed in the middle making it look like an eye.

“The anatomy of this beast is amazing,” Primacon was saying. “The offspring don’t grow into adult versions of it but their whole being changes and they become balls of gas and plasma. Their organic matter morphs completely. Fascinating. Perhaps certain children are genetically different? I presume that some would grow into adult Starmakers rather than just stars.”

Primacon typed up some code and turned to the camera.

“Project Solaris begins with this device,” Primacon said, gesturing to the computer. “The Daylight Machine. It will be used to channel the powers of the Starmaker offspring. It will develop the creature to adulthood as quickly as possible. From there we can control it and adjust its brightness, gravity, radiation output, etc. Theoretically we can use it as a weapon, blasting pure heat at enemy ships or simply irradiating planets till everything dies. We are on the precipice of success!”


	24. The Machine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Primacon's tests bring him closer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided to just conventionally tell the flashback now. It's easier to write it this way. Pretend its being related by his video and by the Starmaker's talk.

Primacon watched, silently, as test number 4 began to fail. The Infant Starmaker was rejecting the Daylight Machine. He saw its skin dissolving into flames and reforming. Burnmarks covered the child as it twisted and attempted to implode upon itself. Perhaps it was trying to turn itself into a black hole? Or to achieve some kind of density to destroy the laboratory and the planet. The three previous Starmaker infants had all failed. 

The first turned the original Daylight Machine to molten slag. Its brain waves couldn’t connect properly and the casing couldn’t account for how hot it could become. His assistant, Z-II, believed that handling small unstable organics capable of nuclear fission was unsafe, no matter how far down their bunker had been buried. When the infant exceeded dangerous perameters, Primacon had it destroyed using a device that had been reverse engineered from the Solar Harvestor Straxus had brought. The child was absorbed completely, preventing a catastrophe.

The second couldn’t destroy the new Daylight Machine. But similarly, they couldn’t control it. The mental backlash and alien brain patterns of the Infant Starmaker caused the scientist’s attempts to control it to fail. It imploded in on itself and similarly was absorbed by the miniature Harvestor before it could cause any real harm.

Primacon opted to be more invasive with the third experiment. They’d vivisected the creature to examine its brain and in the process surgically attached the mental harness to it. Sadly it did not survive the procedure and died before it could make it to the Daylight Machine.

The fourth was dying in front of them, but Primacon could see more of a success than a failure. He turned to Z-II, his green robot assistant, and said;

“Incredible, the mental harness worked. We had this one synced in and we could even control its heat to a degree. This… this is progress. Control has been established. It’s clear we’re taxing its anatomy too much with the activation. For test number 5 we cut that down considerably. From there it will be simple.”

Primacon turned to the other gathered scientists, all plucked from different planets in Grelt, all facing execution should their procedure fail.

“I’m terminating test 4,” Primacon said, pressing the button to activate the Solar Harvester. “Tomorrow will be spent reworking procedures and adjusting output and the mental harness. You’re all dismissed.”

The scientists began to file out; exhaustion and disappointment palatable. Primacon left the camera on. A “record and testament to [his] success” is what he’d called it. Eventually only he, Z-II, the two Starmaker infants, and their mother remained. 

Primacon turned to the Starmaker then. She was at the far end of the lab, opposite of where the Plasma Casing was. She was trapped in a cylindrical cage and could go nowhere. He approached it again.

“I can’t thank you enough,” Primacon said to her. “Everything is progressing as it should. Thanks to you, my people have a chance. We’ll power our system for years.” We’ll show The Lord High Governor and all of his cronies the real power in this cosmos. All my life I’d never conceived of beings such as you. The energy and matter transfer are theoretically impossible, and yet it isn’t. I feel you’ve opened my eyes. Your children are but a small price for our freedom and for our victory!”

Primacon was ecstatic. He touched his metal arm against the glass wall separating himself from the Starmaker. 

“I’ll avenge everything I’ve lost,” he said. “Nobody will doubt the name of Primacon again. I will succeed. I will craft our people a savior!”

Primacon turned from her then and marched out, followed by Z-II.

“What of the mother?” Z-II asked in his hollow robotic voice.

“I’ll think of what to do with her after we’ve solved our solar energy problem,” Primacon responded.

“What of the other test subjects? We only have 2 chances left.”

“We will succeed.”

“And if we do not?”

“Then we will be executed, come on Z-II, think; it’s obvious.”

“You speak of oblivion so casually.”

“What more can I lose?”

Z-II nodded and pulled up their other project on a holoscreen he projected from his arm. The surviving civilizations had created agricultural areas with artificial light. They’d assembled all the livestock and plants they could, but the death toll had been immense. There were only so many resources to go around and Primacon had begun selecting anyone whom he viewed as worthy of survival. The best minds, the best fighters, and any who he felt could contribute. They’d built the safe areas to the largest they could and even now they expanded them. Lapp was the major city where people could stay and survive. Food was scarce and breathable atmosphere was dying quickly. 

They were on a timeframe and they needed success now more than ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I wanted to tie up a few loose ends. That's why the city of Lapp was created. Their artificial growth of food was the farming field that the Peridots found when they visited the city. It's a miniature version of what they had when the planet was starving. The one the Peridots found was constructed long after this point.


	25. Her Burden

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Starmaker finally reveals why the ship is here.

“Did you ever speak to him?” Hessonite asked. “To Primacon I mean? To inform him of your sentience? To ask him not to kill your children?”

_He knew of my sentience. It didn’t matter to him. I can see inside minds, and I knew that nothing could sway him from his decision. I was bound and my children were his experimental fodder. He did not see me as an animal like Straxus’s soldiers did. He saw me as fully sentient and somehow that was worse. He thought nothing of his experiments on us. He’d dissected many people he’d have considered his equal before. Even the anger over his loss was subdued. He saw a means to an end more than he saw a means for revenge. An ethical carelessness is what I would label it as._

“And your communication with me? Does that mean you think I will free you?”

_It means I have someone to talk to. Believe what you want._

“Mm, of course. And did he succeed?”

_He came so close with my fifth child, killing him in the process. My sixth, however, was his success. He’d done it, he’d constructed a miniature sun. He deployed it to the place of the old sun as quickly as he could where he forced my child to grow to her adult size. Her plasma consumed the casing and flowed-outward. A Star was born, so to speak. Though it was artificial, it functioned as the real thing._

“And that sun outside, it is your child?”

_Yes and no. It is my child, but my child is still a small thing, not fully grown to adulthood. It still lies within the Plasma Casing at the center of the star. What surrounds the star is the Casing manipulating my child’s anatomy, artificially creating a malleable sun that they could control. Where adults comprise the whole of the star, she is only the middle and the rest of the star is created from her, but it’s not necessarily a part of her._

“How much can it think?” Hessonite asked.

_How much do you think she can? Her murder of all of those people was planned. Her jamming of your ship’s instruments was planned. Her interference with your light technology was planned. Maybe she’s luring you somewhere?_

“Damn,” Hessonite said, snarling. “And what about you? Why did you bring us here?”

_Like I said, all things must end. My lifespan is almost over. After this batch of eggs, I will pass on. I’ve come here to amend my mistakes and make sure I’ve made everything in order. I want to end my daughter’s suffering before I die._

“And you brought us along for the ride?”

_I was debating on bringing the Weblum with me. It could easily destroy the dead planets and bring an end to that star. There were so many variables to that though. I was trying to figure out how to guide it all the way over here. You interrupted me before I could form a plan and well, I just improvised from there._

“Great, so you have no real plan for this, do you?” Hessonite asked, exasperated.

_I didn’t say that._

“Damn it.”

_She won’t strike you down yet. She’s curious now. But if you do something to draw her ire I doubt you’d survive._

Hessonite sighed at that.

_If only my mate was alive. Male Starmakers possess the unique ability to end life. That’s how he killed the Space Whale that was after us. They can drain life from an organism, any organism. Stars that go insane or develop a kind of cancer are snuffed out by male Starmakers. He could have annihilated this star in an instant._

“I suppose,” Hessonite said, sitting down against one of the consoles.

_What of you?_

“What of me?”

_The Gem you have feelings for?_

Hessonite was on guard then.

“You’ve been probing where you shouldn’t be,” she said.

_Perhaps_

“It’s nothing I care to share with you.”

_She is trying to impress you. She always seems to be doing that._

“Why in the hell do you care?” Hessonite barked.

_Again, I’m dying. There’s not all that much I can do to pass the time._

“Unbelievable.”

_She doesn’t think you see her as an equal. Her words got to you. You think that you might not actually see her as a romantic partner. Perhaps you place less importance on this relationship than she? Perhaps you’re having trouble seeing why that’s a bad thing? That thought seems to be the one bothering you. You might not even be able to see her as someone worth having a relationship with… you are debating if you are to feel guilty._

“Alright, shut up!” Hessonite snapped. 

_So many other species have such complex attitudes about romance and mating. It’s not even necessary for your kind biologically but emotionally you seem to need it._

“A giant legendary monster from the beginning of time is giving me a lecture on my love life. I’d be fascinated if I wasn’t so annoyed.”

_I’m not from the beginning of time_

Hessonite stood and left, her annoyance unstated but clear. Nothing was being accomplished here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made the bit about Male Starmakers up. IDK, I wanted something poetic.
> 
> So here's another thing I made up, their mating. With her mate dead, why does she continue to give birth? Well, I'm making up alien anatomy so let's unpack that. In Courage the Cowardly Dog the Starmaker dies after giving birth. That's what squids in real life do. Obviously I ignored that for this fic. 
> 
> For the Starmaker I used the anatomy of Octopi as a reference. Octopi similarly die after they give birth, but their mating rituals are different. Female Octopi hold their gametes (eggs) and when they mate, they store the male gametes (sperm) inside themselves in an area near the ova. The gametes don't mix until she lays the eggs and then she combines them. 
> 
> For the Starmaker I wrote it so she stores the sperm of her mate within her and even after his passing she can still continue to give birth to stars because she has a (limited) stock for fertilization. This batch of eggs is her last and the male gametes have all either died or been used.
> 
> I couldn't figure out how to incorporate this into the fic so I decided to make it into the notes section.


	26. Meditations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hessonite meditates as The Sculling draws closer to Praxis.

The Sculling approached the planet of Praxis. The planet seemed fine, for all intents and purposes. It was the largest in the system and had a deep blue hue to it. It was hard to imagine it as uninhabitable, except that the records showed that a holo-emitter was concealing what the planet really looked like. They’d discovered it in the archives. The emitter was so strong that even their sensors couldn’t pierce it. If anything was alive, it would most certainly be on this world.

Hessonite sat in her quarters, alone, meditating. This would be their final destination. Whatever was on this planet, they’d need to stop the Star. Perhaps there was a weapon? Perhaps a means to destroy it? The Starmaker was annoyingly cryptic, as usual. She probably expected them to let her out. It wasn’t going to happen.

Her thoughts moved to Squaridot. The Peridot was way out of line, but Hessonite felt concerned about her rather than angry. What had caused her to so seriously overstep her bounds? She snarled at the memory of the Starmaker’s words. What right did that beast have to judge her about this relationship?

Besides, she loved Peridot, about as much as a Garnet could love a Peridot. She’d loved her just like she’d loved the last Peridot or the Amethyst before that. She shouldn’t feel bad for that… should she? She’d devote herself to this Gem and then they’d part ways. Affection doesn’t last an eternity.

There was still the guilt though. Maybe Squaridot did place too much value on their relationship, maybe the fact that Hessonite thought that indicated that she placed too little on it.

“Damnit,” Hessonite grumbled, aloud. 

She hated the idea of admitting fault.

_“Do you respect me?”_

The words echoed through her head. The question gave her pause. She respected Peridot’s work ethic and how she’d keep pushing herself to succeed. She respected that the Peridot always tried to make her work exemplary rather than just above average. She was always trying to win Hessonite’s approval. That was something valuable, but perhaps that wasn’t the respect that the Peridot wanted.

Hessonite wondered what Emerald would think. The General had a habit of fraternizing with her inferiors and she would probably complain about Hessonite’s dilemma. Tell her to just drop them when they get too clingy and move onto a different conquest. Emerald’s methods were callous, that much was true. Hessonite knew the green commander could never really love anything except her ships. Hessonite didn’t want to become that. 

Part of her wanted to fight against the portion of her mind appealing to tradition. Peridots, Pearls, Rubies; their feelings in these matters were insignificant. What discomfort they may have they should simply swallow with the understanding that this was their place. Of course, Squaridot felt that she was just a prop; to provide emotional support, something to sleep with, and a distraction from the day to day… that’s what she was supposed to be. Hessonite was taken aback at that train of thought. She’d seldom interrogated these ideas. Why would she need to? They were together and they were having fun. But then, why bother with the relationship when it becomes too taxing?

“What kind of nonsense is that!” Hessonite grumbled, out loud.

She couldn’t believe she’d even consider that. Squaridot was important to her, problems and all. Thinking like that was just selfish. But still, why invest all this time and worry into a Peridot? Emerald had laughed at her for it. Of course, she had. 

“Focusing on this nonsense with the star is less frustrating,” Hessonite muttered before attempting to empty her thoughts and return to her meditation.


	27. Praxis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They arrive at the planet Praxis, formerly New Polyhex.

“About a minute till we enter through the holo-field,” 5XB said.

“Maintain course,” Hessonite said.

The Bridge watched with anticipation as they approached Praxis. The planet was deceptively healthy with what appeared deep blue oceans and acres of land covered in forest. No life-signs emitted from the planet, meaning that the greenery was an illusion. Still the illusion was powerful enough to block their scanners. 

“Weapons?” Hessonite asked, leaning forward in her command chair.

“Lasers are charged,” 5XZ said, eyes darting between the targeting screen and the main computer. “Missiles are armed.”

“Pilot,” Hessonite said, not even looking at Squaridot. “Forward.”

Squaridot didn’t move from her position. They stayed the course.

Hessonite waited. There could be anything waiting for them there. Even if the system was well and truly dead, there could be still functioning automatic turrets waiting to blow them out of space. 

Finally, they reached what had been marked in the records as the end of the holofield. Hessonite watched space around the ship crackle as their nose pushed through the field. When the ship’s camera went through they could only stare at the planet.

Praxis was in ruins. There were no forests and most of the oceans had long since dried up. The planet had been partly terraformed and a massive expanse of metal buildings and factories covered it. Acres of the planet glowed bright orange and Hessonite recognized them as pits of molten metal, used for the manufacture of conventional arms and the production of new soldiers. This is what “New Polyhex” was. It was a planet mined so utterly for its resources that the environment had collapsed. Even before the sun wiped out all of the life on Lapp, this planet was uninhabitable. So much of the planet had been torn up and restructured for the machines; they didn’t need clean air to survive. 

It reminded Hessonite of Epsilon when it was first being terraformed. So many dead organics in such little time, what a fun couple of decades. Hessonite gave the order to fly towards the largest structure on the landscape. It was an imposing fortress with the conquerors’ spiked purple insignia. They could probably fly the Roaming Eye through the hallways, they were built bigger than even the diamonds would deem necessary.

“Scans?” Hessonite asked 5XB.

“The Smelting Pools,” 5XB said, referring to the pools of molten metal. “Are affecting the scanners. So far there’s no life signs, but we are detecting movement. There seems to be machines online in certain areas around the fortress.”

“Armaments?”

“None to report captain. But, there is what seems to be a person near the portside landing strip.”

Hessonite nodded and switched her viewing screen to that sector. She could see some sort of figure moving on the airbase. It was far too small to be one of Straxus’s soldiers and it seemed to be waving some kind of lights at them.

“It’s signaling us, captain,” 5XB said.

“Hm,” Hessonite said leaning on her arm and thinking. “Move towards it. Peridot 5XZ, focus light cannons on it, keep missiles armed. Peridot 5XB, continue to perform scans around the area, see if anything else is coming towards us.”

“Roger,” The two Peridots said as the silent Squaridot moved them towards the airbase.

The Sculling flew towards the landing strip. Up close Hessonite could see that there were accommodations for beings their size everywhere. Many of which seemed to be added later as their engineering clashed with the larger machines’ buildings. The person on the runway used its light wands to signal where they should land. Their ship hovered for a moment before extending its landing gear and touching down.

Up close they could see the new being better. It was a green robot. It was taller than Hessonite but not nearly as tall as Straxus’s forces. It was green with a few red highlights. Its helmeted head housed a single red eye. Its shoulders were asymmetrical; the right one had a large panel around it, which seemed to be a shield while the left had three spikes. As it retracted its signal lights, Hessonite could see an axe at the mech’s side.

“Proceed with caution,” Hessonite said as she got out of her chair. “Amethyst 3XQ, you and the away team are with me. Peridot 5XB, deploy the battle robonoids, you and the other two will come with me. Do not fire unless fired upon.”

The green robot waited patiently as the ship’s doors opened. Hessonite walked out with Amethyst 3XQ to her right. The Amethyst touched the gem at her hip and drew a large sledgehammer. The Peridots were to Hessonite’s left and had their limb enhancer blasters drawn. Four battle robonoids hovered over them, with three Amethysts, also with their weapons drawn, brought up the rear.

“Greetings,” the robot said. “I am-”

“Zee two!” Peridot 5XZ said, surprised. “From Primacon’s tapes.”

“My reputation proceeds me,” Z-II said. “Welcome to Praxis.”

Hessonite turned her gaze from Z-II to the rest of the scenery. True to the description, the air was so polluted that most organics couldn’t survive there. She could feel the micro-particles swarming around them. Had she lungs it would have been shredded by the debris floating in this atmosphere.

“Where is the population?” she asked.

“I’m afraid it’s only me,” Z-II responded. “It’s been a while since there’s been any life here.”

Hessonite looked up into the sky. There was only night even though the sun had been visible to them just before they passed through the holofield.

“Did you put the holofield up?” Hessonite asked.

“After a time, I did,” Z-II said. “There was no one left alive and I thought that it would be better if Praxis looked as it did in its prime.”

“Can the sun see us?” Hessonite asked.

“I cannot say.”

“Captain?” 5XZ asked.

“Weapons down,” Hessonite said.

The Peridots deactivated their guns and the Amethysts demanifested their weapons, but the Robonoids kept their focus on Z-II.

“I suppose I have to ask it,” Hessonite said. “What happened here?”

Z-II looked skyward briefly before turning to Hessonite and saying.

“A sun is the cornerstone of our life. Our plants needed it to grow, our people needed it to live, our machines needed it to power them. When we lost our sun, we could either die or do the unthinkable. Come,”

Z-II turned and gestured at them.

“I have any piece of the story you’d need.”

Z-II began to walk away.

“We follow,” Hessonite said.

Hessonite, the four amethysts, three Peridots, and four Robonoids followed the Robot. Eyeball and Navy watched them go from the Bridge’s computer.

With that the pair deployed the rest of the Robonoids in a defensive perimeter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so I designed Z-II's new form off of the Zaku II FZ from Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket.
> 
> [Here's a reference](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/gundam/images/5/5a/Ms-06fz.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20141004143737).


	28. The Story of Grelt Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Z-II finally sheds light on what happened.

“With our life giver gone,” Z-II continued as he walked across the air-strip. “We did the unthinkable. To feel the hot sun smiling down on us once more we harnessed the power of a deity we believed to only be fictional. We were given a-”

“Starmaker,” Hessonite interrupted. “We got that through the archives we downloaded. Straxus came, enacted his slaughter, used a Solar Harvester on your star, and gave you a Starmaker to experiment on. Whatever it is that’s out there is some kind of perverted union between one of your infernal devices and an infant Starmaker.”

“I see,” Z-II said. “So, I’m just being redundant it seems.”

“No,” Hessonite said. “What happened to Straxus and his soldiers? What happened to the survivors? And most importantly, do you have faster than light travel at your disposal?”

“I can say yes to your last question,” Z-II said. “The technology from Straxus’s fleet was quite advanced and much of it is still here on this planet.”

“Excellent,” Hessonite said.

“As for your other questions, I can show you the remaining records.”

They finally reached a central building in the airfield. Z-II entered, followed by the Gems, and then two of the Robonoids. Two Robonoids floated outside as sentries.

“We saw what was in the Ken Desert,” Hessonite said. “All the bodies.”

“A final testament to our sins,” Z-II said. “The Sun blesses us every day with life and fortune, but those are its to give and should it feel necessary, it can take from us just as easily. It served us for a long time, giving out of the mercy within its solar heart. I cannot begin to know what it thinks but maybe it grew tired of us, maybe its resentment boiled over, or maybe it was an accident. The Sun captivated us. Millions stood and looked to it, enraptured by its beauty we would do anything. So, they followed its whims. The populace of Lapp and thus of Grelt, all walked to the Ken Desert. They walked and walked with no regards for their health or for their biological necessities. They walked until they were in the desert, staring up at our Solar Savior basking in its loving glow. They all stood gathered there; all of their eyes fixed on the star. Soon they all died of dehydration or starvation. They no longer wished to fulfill their biological needs, they only wished to gaze upon our Sun. I believed it was leeching the life from them. Its unique alien properties simply draining them until there was nothing left. The people may have died from a lack of food or water, but the plants and the micro-organisms all perished as well. The sun took back the benefits and life it bestowed to us. And soon there was nothing.”

“Stars,” 5XZ muttered.

“Nothing except you,” Hessonite said. “All of these people. The survivors of Straxus’s occupation and their descendants. All of them died except you.”

“What need of food or water would a robot need?” Z-II asked.

“Why leave you alive though?” Hessonite asked. “Surely the sun could leech away your power like it did the energy from the trees. Surely it could destroy you as easily as everyone else.”

“I do not pretend to understand the machinations of our Sun,” Z-II replied.

Hessonite only narrowed her eyes at the robot.

“We were free of Straxus for centuries,” Z-II continued. “Free to rebuild and start a new generation. That generation grew up to never know the horrors of bondage. More generations came and went. We could never repopulate after the genocides, but we did try. The smelting pools on this planet burned so fiercely that they continue to this day. Their heat never truly leaving them.”

They were moving through a corridor now. The inside of the building was lit in contrast to the permanent night of the outside. Everything was arranged and organized, but the debris had built up everywhere. The inside was filthy and dusty. The windows had long since shattered from the particles banging against them. 

“This building was constructed after the occupation,” Z-II said. “Many others were as well. We reclaimed out planet. We set up laboratories to study their technology and to one day restore Praxis to its former glory. We could never accomplish the latter, unfortunately. Praxis was too far gone.”

The reached a briefing room and Z-II gestured them inside. The room was quite big, with dozens of seats all facing a computer screen. Hessonite and the Gems all sat down whilst the pair of Robonoids hovered near the back, their targeting recitals never leaving Z-II. 

“Why show us this?” Hessonite asked. “Why acquis to my demands?”

“I have a story to tell,” Z-II replied. “The story of Grelt.”

Z-II began to access the computer at the front of the room and the large screen flared to life:

 

“Oh Lord High Governor I bring you a gift. Such a terrible, cruel gift,” Primacon said.

He was in his lab alone again. The surviving scientists would be celebrating a job well done, but not him. He stared at the daylight machine. The Infant Starmaker was lost to its inferno now. Within their lab the new star burned; its density and heat closely monitored. Preliminary attempts to draw solar energy from it had been successful. 

“My child,” Primacon said, placing his hands on the glass wall separating him from the experiment. “You will burn brighter than any star that’s ever blessed a world with its light. My people will turn their gaze skyward and see you… our Solar Savior. We shall accomplish so many things together. Our victory is at hand. My revenge and your debut.”

He turned to the monitors beside him. The Infant had not fully shed its organic coil, it was still a squid in the center of that star, its head cut open and the interface drilled into it. The monitors showed that it was in pain.

“Oh, how you suffer,” Primacon continued. “But you suffer righteously! Soon you’ll deliver that suffering onto our enemies.”

Primacon looked at the monitor again. The Infant’s mind and body had been forcibly developed at a horrifying rate. It existed as a child with its body simultaneously preserved as childlike and forced to become an adult. An Infant… grown old.

Primacon’s machines translated its thoughts. 

_stopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstop_

Had the beast possessed vocal cords it would have screamed. 

“Do you hear me?” Primacon spoke to the computer, the words transmitting themselves into the creature’s mind.

_Please, stop. Please. It… It Hurts._

“Oh, it does,” Primacon said, speaking soothingly. “It is a pain that will compress you, mold you into an engine of fury and power. Channel that pain.”

_Father please!_

“You can endure it!” Primacon said. “Your body is strong, not like Martul’s or any of the others. You will live to see a future that will surpass any of our lineage. Have pride.”

_It hurts. Please stop it._

“I’m very proud of you,” Primacon continued. “And soon you’ll show them all why you were made and what you are capable of. What can stop you? What can you possibly fear? You are a child of the Stars and their creators? Who could stand against you.”

_Please! The burning hurts! It’s not supposed to hurt! I feel pain everywhere._

“Hush,” Primacon said. “The pain will become your baseline sensation and from there you will be able to cope with it. You’ll make a perfect star and a perfect weapon. I know you’ll save us all.”

With that, Primacon turned and left. The Infant could only scream in text, its cries unheard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, Infant Grown Old, that's a Bloodborne reference.


	29. The Story of Grelt Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More of the video is shown, Primacon presents his weapon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter begins in the present. I thought about combining it with the previous chapter, but having both the Starmaker and her child speaking in italics with no dialogue tags would be kind of confusing, so I split the chapter up.

**The Present**

_FATHER?!_

Hessonite winced. The voice was like a scream in her head, reverberating through her being.

_THAT MONSTER CUT MY CHILD FROM MY BODY AND PERVERTED HER SO UTTERLY AND STILL HE CALLS HIMSELF A FATHER!_

Hessonite massaged her head and thought, “Organics are funny like that.” In response.

_He slew most of my children and violated one so utterly that it stole the life from an entire solar system. I was wrong to flee from Grelt._

“The universe is vast,” Hessonite muttered. “It’s penchant for cruelty is even greater.”

**The Video**

The Daylight Machine was teleported to the location of the former star and from it a massive inferno of plasma expanded in size and density. Soon it began to draw in the disparate planets back into orbit around itself even if its mass couldn’t logically have done so. Light flowed down onto the planets. Vegetation regrew yet the damage could never completely heal.

Straxus order a first test on Lapp. There was a massive expanse of forest on Lapp called the Ken Forest. It was one of the most lush and fertile locations on the planet. Now it was a husk litered with dead trees and animals. The Sun fired a blast of plasma onto it burning away all of the dead life. After the fires subsided, the scorched earth became known as the Ken Desert. 

The Sun was a multipurpose tool. It could provide immediate solar energy, control gravity, and fire projectiles. It was simultaneously a power source and a weapon.

“You’ve done it Primacon,” Straxus said.

They were in a ship hovering above the burning Ken forest. Primacon watched with little emotion as the dead trees were all immolated.

“Ah, it’s a fine weapon,” Straxus continued. “Rejoice, for you’ve bought your pitiful system a few generations of life. Show pride in your accomplishments.”

“I gave you your weapon,” Primacon said. 

“And what do you want in return?” Straxus asked. “Because you will receive nothing, not that you have anyone you’d like to gift anything to.”

Primacon continued to stare at the fires. Watching all of the dead plant life burn away. After this nothing would grow here anymore. 

 

**Video: The Lab**

Primacon again opened up the monitors of the Star’s brainwaves. 

“Our time is almost at hand,” he said.

_I… I don’t know if I can._

“Of course, you can,” Primacon said, his voice friendly. “What are they to you but insects? A pestilence that the universe can do without. Look at you. You’re a star forged through methods both natural and unnatural? Even your pain has become something you can live with. Burn them. Burn them until their metal spaceships become their tombs. Burn them and burn their brethren. Burn them until there’s nothing more to burn.”

Primacon was snarling then, spitting his words out.

“Their lives are inconsequential.”


	30. The Story of Grelt Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Story of Grelt concludes.

“Commander! Something happening, it’s turned on us it’s- arghhh!”

The call shorted out then. Straxus watched from the bridge of his ship. The solar stations they’d placed around the sun to harness its energy were being destroyed. Solar flares fired out at them, burning away the steel and silicon with ease. The Sun had turned on them. Flares fired out in all directions, striking battleships left and right, melting their hulls as if they were nothing and killing all onboard.

“I want a live feed from all ships,” Straxus said.

Soon his bridge was filled with panicked voices, with soldiers barking orders, and with the screams of the dying.

“Listen well ladies and gentlemen,” Straxus said. “These are the sounds of war! A symphony of pain and dread. Hear its melody.”

Had he a mouth he would have smiled.

“Warworld,” he parked at the monitor that was currently communicating with the base. “Reactivate the Solar Harvester.”

“Already on it, on it!” replied Shrapnel.

The Harvester blasted at the Sun, drawing in its energy. They would kill it as easily as they’d killed the previous star. Surely Primacon knew such a thing?

The Sun’s energies began to be siphoned. Its power was sucked into the harvester, but it had more to spare. The Sun began to increase its output, pushing more and more energy into the Solar Harvester. So much energy being absorbed at once brought the Harvestor to dangerous levels.

“Open the energy storage, storage!” Shrapnel shouted. “Release the excess power before we’re destroyed, destroyed!”

But even with the energy storage discharging the excess, the Solar Harvestor exploded, killing hundreds. Fire consumed the Warworld. The Sun could feel the artificial world in its grasp. She began to mold it, burning the various technologies and people on it, melting them into liquid steel and reshaping it. All hands were lost in her attack and the Warworld became a tomb for all those aboard. It’s surface a molten ocean that wouldn’t cool for decades.

With that accomplished, more flares fired out at the various battleships. Straxus sat back in his chair; watching, and listening to, the massacre. He ordered their ships to attain formation delta. Their conventional arms wouldn’t be able to penetrate the hot plasma, but a combined attack with their beam weaponry could potentially damage the Daylight Machine within.

“Concentrate fire!” Straxus bellowed as his ship and the others moved into place.

The Sun fired flares down on the occupied planets. Every base, every living quarter, every airfield that the Occupiers possessed was burned to the ground. Every city they resided in was destroyed, local population be damned. This was all according to Primacon’s plan. Anything that even touched the hated machines could die for all he cared.

“Commander please!” Flip Sides said. “Our forces are being obliterated! We need to retreat, we need to-”

She was cut off when Straxus hurled his pick-axe at her, piercing her chest and killing her instantly. She dropped to the ground dead, her head camera still rolling, still filming the scenes that were unfolding.

“Not one step back!” Straxus yelled. “If this is our death we don’t run from it!”

Whatever happened next was lost when a solarflare struck his ship burning through the bridge and Flip Sides’s camera. 

 

“Thus, Straxus’s reign ended,” Z-II said when the video cut out.

“Killed by his own greed,” Hessonite said, smirking. “His ending was so obvious and choreographed; that alone makes him deserving of it.”

“Primacon destroyed the entirety of the occupation,” Z-II said. “Their ships, their outposts, their false planet, all were obliterated.”

“Even the cities with his own people,” Hessonite said, chuckling a bit. “The man wanted annihilation and he got it. Curious though, that this base still stands.”

“Primacon believed that Straxus’s fortress, New Darkmount, was too valuable to lose. It contained the lion’s share of data and served as the brain center for their machinery.”

“That makes it even funnier!” Hessonite said. “Justifying the murder of his own people so long as he kills all of the robots and yet still sparing their stronghold because he finds the information valuable. Oh, if only he was still alive. I’d like to shake his hand before cutting it off.”

Hessonite let out a hollow laugh. As dangerous as the sun was hanging over their heads, the sheer scope of Primacon’s crimes struck a dark cord within the Garnet. All of the pain he endured just served to justify the callousness to which he burned his fellow organics.

“So, Z-II,” Hessonite said after her little cackle. “How do we kill this little abomination of a sun your master created?”

“I have no concrete answer to that,” Z-II replied. “I’ve constructed scenarios and hypotheticals but I have no solid way of doing it.”

“Why show us all of this?” Peridot 5XB asked.

“I needed someone to bear witness to our crimes,” Z-II said. “To share my master’s legacy with any being still alive. To ensure the story is not forgotten.”

“Fine,” Hessonite said with a sigh. “Now about those hypotheticals.”

The Gems exited the theater with Z-II. Hessonite was eager to see what Z-II had planned if anything at all. At the very least they could repair the gravity generator and leave the star system. Unfortunately, that left a conundrum with the Starmaker, it could easily tamper with their movement, possibly sending them into the star itself.

“Decisions, decisions,” Hessonite thought as she followed Z-II down the hallway.

“Scouting teams,” Hessonite said to the gems behind her. “Buddy up and report back here in an hour.”

Wordlessly, Squaridot departed from the group, slipping through a side door. The Peridots watched her go.

“She seems upset,” 5XB remarked. 

“Who cares?” 5XZ said, she’s a moody asshole. “She’s probably off sulking again. You talk to her and she’ll be shouting at you for being stupid enough to give a shit.”

“Well,” 5XB said. “I better make sure she doesn’t end up walking into something dangerous.”

“Do what you want,” 5XZ said with a shrug.

Peridot 5XB went after Squaridot whilst 5XZ paired up with Amethyst 3XQ. The Robonoids followed Hessonite and the other two Amethysts went off on their own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I say the Warworld was destroyed, it wasn't completely blown apart, it just melted into a satellite that still orbits the Sun. It's still intact but its insides are all melted.


	31. Workplace Dispute

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It sucks when friends fight... or acquaintances... or perhaps the better word is coworkers.

“Hold up,” 5XB said, trotting after Squaridot.

“What do _you_ want?” Squaridot asked, her disgust palatable even without her turning around.

“We were ordered to go in pairs,” 5XB said, her face and voice not registering the annoyance she felt at that comment.

“And?”

“You don’t want to disobey the captain, do you?”

“Why do you care?”

“Hm… something happened between you two I assume,” Peridot 5XB said.

“And that’s any of your fucking business… because?” Squaridot asked, her back still to the other Peridot.

“Look,” 5XB said, grabbing Squaridot by the shoulder. “If there is-”

“I don’t need your pity!” Squaridot snapped, whirling on the other Peridot. “You and that other bimbo can just go back to whatever stupid crap you like to get up to and leave me the fuck alone. Stop pretending that you’re better than me!”

Peridot 5XB stared at her for a moment, emotion didn’t come as strongly to her as either Squaridot or 5XZ and the former couldn’t read her expression.

5XB slapped her on the back of the head.

“Pretending to be better than you?” 5XB asked, mildly annoyed. “Where in the hell did that idea come from? Listen, blockhead, you really need to lighten up. You’ve been incredibly hostile to everyone since you came here.”

“Don’t call me blockhead, you insufferable clod!”

“And I don’t like you calling me and Z bimbos,” 5XB replied, coolly. “You have to give respect to earn it.”

“What in the hell have you ever done to earn respect?” Squaridot snapped.

“I shouldn’t need to explain to you that people need to ‘earn’ the right to not be treated like crap,” 5XB said.

“You’re a Peridot,” Squaridot spat. “Just fucking look at yourself in a mirror without your enhancers. You’re tiny, helpless, and barely worth more than the rock you spawned from. That’s just what we are! You’ve got a lot of nerve demanding respect! We’re not worth it.”

“So… this _is_ about you and the captain then?” 5XB asked.

Squaridot took a swing at her then. 5XB took a step back and Squaridot stumbled forward, her blow missing and her embarrassment increasing.

“Did she say something to you?” 5XB inquired, staying out of range for another blow. “Sometimes Gems don’t respect other Gems. I see it as an individual thing rather than one based on type. If she doesn’t-”

“She didn’t say anything,” Squaridot said, her voice calmer. “She didn’t need to.”

Squaridot turned around and stomped away. The pair exited the fortress and walked out onto the tarmac. Squaridot pulled open her communicator.

“Ruby,” she said into the holoscreen. “Double time, we’re examining something dangerous. Might be a chance for you to stab something.”

“Now you’re talking!” Eyeball said, closing the call.

In a few seconds, the Ruby raced outside the ship and ran towards them.

As the Ruby approached, Squaridot turned back to 5XB.

“Look, don’t try the Peridot solidarity thing with me,” she said. “I don’t care if we’re the same Gem. You’ve got your idiosyncrasies, I have mine. Stop trying to understand what’s wrong with me. All you’re doing is pissing me off and setting yourself up for disappointment.”

“Listen,” Peridot 5XB said. “Don’t take this as solidarity. I just noticed you were upset is all.”

“And why does that matter to you?”

“I thought you might need someone to talk to.”

“What’s in it for you?”

“What’s in it for me chatting up a random Ruby while we wait in line? What’s in it for me making a joke with someone I know I’ll probably never see again? What’s in it for me when I offer to help someone fix something?” Peridot 5XB’s voice affected a calmer disposition. “It’s just trying to help another person out. The world is hard enough without us at each other’s throats.”

Squaridot narrowed an eye at her then. It was in all likelihood just a way for the other Peridot to make herself look so goddamn noble and benevolent. Giving herself that smug little assurance that she was better.

Eyeball had caught up to them at this point. 

“Oh man, I was waiting for something to kill!” she said, excitedly. “What is it? Another robot, right? Or maybe it’s some sick experiment, or maybe-”

She stopped as Squaridot reached a limb enhancer out and patted the Ruby on the head. Eyeball made a face, wondering what the gesture was for. Squaridot then gripped her head, the stump where a hand would be collided with Eyeball’s gem and unleashed a powerful electric shock through it.

Eyeball screamed as Squaridot lifted her up and slammed her head down onto the ground again and again. Peridot 5XB was surprised at such aggression and backed off when she saw Squaridot’s snarling face. Squaridot flung the Ruby after that and said.

“Alright, now I’m really going to give it to you, you stupid little clod.”

Ruby crashed onto the ground but rolled and got to her feet, drawing her knife.

“Ok, I’m gonna correct your shitty attitude myself,” the Ruby shouted before charging at her.

Squaridot raised her limb enhancer and fired her tractor beam, grabbing the Ruby in a bubble. Before the bubble sealed, however, Eyeball flung her knife at Squaridot. It embedded in her leg, right above the limb-enhancer. Squaridot cursed and released the beam as she worked to tear the knife out. As she did so, Eyeball crossed the distance and tackled the Peridot, the knife demanifesting.

Squaridot was knocked onto her back and Eyeball began punching on her; raining down blow after blow on her face. Squaridot’s left fingers formed into a fist, floated away from them and flew back, striking Ruby with enough force to knock her off. Squaridot got back on her feet and charged at the Ruby again, grabbing her with her left limb-enhancer and shocking her again. Squaridot converted her right arm into a blaster and charged a shot, Eyeball drew up her left and formed a fireball that she shoved into the charged blaster. The resulting explosion blew Squaridot back a few yards and sent her crashing into the ground.

She cursed and got up, her scattered fingers flying back into orbit around her now singed enhancer. Ruby’s left hand was badly mangled, but it restructured itself into its old shape as the red Gem got back to her feet. She drew her knife and charged, Squaridot turning her left hand into a blaster this time. Right as they were about to clash both were grabbed up by green tractor beams and hoisted off the ground.

They turned to Peridot 5XB who had intervened and used her enhancers to subdue both.

“What in the name of the Empire has gotten into you two?” 5XB snapped. “Stars you just tried to kill each other!”

“Screw you and your ‘tried to kill’,” Eyeball barked before trying to get at her opponent. “Drop me and I’ll finish the job.”

“You stunted little wretch,” Squaridot shouted at Eyeball. “You wanna go around thinking you’re hot stuff? I’ll grind your Gem against my heel! Peridot, release us!”

“Not a chance!” Peridot 5XB said, before bringing her arms together, bashing the Gems’s heads against each other. “You’re both on timeout until you stop being murder crazy.”

The pair unleashed a stream of curses at the mediating Peridot, angry at being cheated out of their murder rage.


	32. Guilt?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Z-II discusses the Sun with Hessonite.

Hessonite followed Z-II further into the base. They’d arrived at a laboratory now. Amethyst 3XQ and Peridot 5XZ followed behind her with the Robonoids hovering at a safe distance.

“So… it really is one of the Squishy’s children?” 5XZ said. “Amazing.”

“Stop calling her that,” Hessonite said.

“But, like, how do we stop it?” 5XZ asked. “They tried to kill it with a Solar Harvester and that didn’t work. What can we do? Our ordinance isn’t nearly effective enough to destroy a sun!”

“I believe we only need to strike at the Daylight Machine at the heart of the fake star,” Hessonite said. “We’d need to pierce through the plasma field. Lasers won’t do it, the Infant Starmaker can manipulate them.”

“Why’s it called an Infant Starmaker?” 3XQ asked. “It doesn’t grow up into a Starmaker like its parent, it grows up into a Star. The offspring is a different kind of being than the parent.”

“A curious question,” Z-II said. “Primacon and I asked the same thing. Does the parent not produce offspring that are its species?”

“I don’t care how it was born,” Hessonite said. “I care about how to kill it. Can’t the Daylight Machine be remotely shut down?”

“We tried,” Z-II said. “The Star has long since disabled any signals to its core. I can’t even communicate with it.”

“What did you try to say to it?” 5XZ asked.

“It doesn’t matter,” he replied.

“So what technology do you have in mind?” Hessonite asked.

“Heat proof metal casing around a payload to shoot into the star,” he said. 

“Do you have something that can withstand that heat?”

“I’ve been testing alloys,” Z-II said.

“You’ve had a long time to perform tests,” Hessonite said.

“Indeed.”

“And you’ve found nothing?”

“I’ve concocted a fused alloy of Adamantium, Cybertonium, and Unobtanium. The melting point exceeds any others that I’ve tested.”

“Why haven’t you used it then?” 5XZ asked.

“I never thought to,” Z-II said. “Why kill the Sun? It’s got as much a right to its life as I do.”

“Uh, what about all the people it killed?” 3XQ asked. “I mean we saw the bodies in the desert.”

“And in the end, I feel responsible for that,” Z-II said, stopping and turning to them. “Who but us concocted this monster? Who but us unleashed it?”

“I suppose,” Hessonite said.

Z-II resumed walking and they followed.

5XZ tapped her on the shoulder, and the Garnet bent her head to the smaller Gem.

“What about Squishy?” 5XZ asked.

“I’m not going to dignify you with an answer if you continue to call her that,” Hessonite said.

“But she’s got to be a factor here, right?” 5XZ continued. “What if we let her out?”

“Out of the question,” Hessonite said.

“I know you’ve been talking to her,” 5XZ said. “She speaks to you in your head. She’s why we’re here isn’t she?”

Hessonite rounded on her then.

“How do you know that?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.

“It’s obvious,” 5XZ said. “You sit in front of it, staring, and having a one-way conversation. That’s got to be it!”

“Yeah Captain, it _is_ pretty obvious,” 3XQ said.

She sighed and the three resumed following Z-II.

“You’ve never attempted to leave?” Hessonite asked him.

“I doubt I could escape the Sun,” Z-II said. “It would destroy my ship if I flew it normally and if I tried a faster than light travel it’d probably send me into a planet.”

“And you’re guilt over unleashing this thing,” Hessonite said. “That’s not a factor.”

Z-II turned to her, his single red eye meeting her red and white eyes.

“You insinuate I’d hesitate to kill the Infant Starmaker?”

“You admitted a sadness to its creation? Do you think you’ve been compromised?”

“Are you accusing me of that?”

The two stared at each other a moment longer. Hessonite wasn’t going to take anything from this hell system at their word.

“Why did Primacon want to keep this base intact?” Hessonite asked him.

“A wealth of scientific knowledge that he saw as too valuable to lose.”

“More valuable than the lives of the people he sacrificed just because they were next to the other base’s?”

“Of course.”

“What was he trying to do here?”

“He was constructing engines of war.”

Amethyst 3XQ and Peridot 5XZ exchanged glances. This wasn’t going well.

“Show me,” Hessonite said. “Table this Star destruction and show me.”


	33. Just a girl caught up in dreams of fantasies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Squaridot opens up about her issues.

“Calm down Ruby!” Navy pleaded.

Navy was restraining a snarling and struggling Eyeball as 5XB similarly held back Squaridot.

“I’m tired of that stuck up asshole telling us what to do!” Eyeball snarled. “The condescending fuck needs to take a knife to the eye.”

“Get the hell off me!” Squaridot shouted.

5XB had grabbed her in a full-nelson. The move was rudimentary but keeping her limb enhancers to the sides and struggling to angle upwards kept them from firing at the Rubies.

“No,” 5XB said. “Not until you two stop this.”

“She tried to kill me!” Squaridot shouted. “Cornered me in a hallway and threatened to cut my Gem out. I’m not going to take that. I’m done with you people just walking all over me.”

“Oh, you’re the victim?” Eyeball shouted. “That’s really cute. But come on, take another swing at me. You’ll see who’s better.”

“Ruby, stop,” Navy said. “We’re not going to get anything done if we kill each other. It’s against orders… and you might get hurt.”

“What will the captain say about all of this?” 5XB asked.

“Oh no! Stop hurting my little toy,” Eyeball jeered. “If you break her I’ll need to get a new one.”

Squaridot converted her left enhancer to its blaster mode and fired into the ground. 5XB moved her foot out of the way and with her balance shifted, Squaridot broke her hold and charged forward again.

Eyeball elbowed Navy in the stomach and threw herself forward, only to duck under another laser blast.

“You’re not living through this!” Squaridot screamed.

She aimed another shot only to be grabbed by 5XB’s tractor beam and tossed off in the opposite direction. Eyeball was about to let out a laugh before 5XB’s fist flew at her striking her directly in the gem and knocking her down.

“Hold her,” 5XB yelled at Navy.

Squaridot tumbled through the air and activated her helicopter fingers to stable her descent. She landed with both feet on the ground only to be caught again by 5XB’s beam.

“Let me go!” she shouted.

“Not until you calm down,” 5XB said, firmly as she closed the gap between them.

“That stunted little red pebble is asking to die,” Squaridot yelled. “I’m tired of this! I’m tired of people looking down at me. I’m tired of them sneering when I’m not looking. I’m tired of putting up with everyone’s crap!”

“Peridot,” 5XB said.

“You all hate me. And I get it. I’m hate-able. I’m that stupid bitch you gotta live with. I’m that square-headed failure that’s only made to be a good little Peridot and work their stupid job. And I don’t need to be reminded by that little red psychopath.

“Peridot,” 5XB said, quieter.

“And what the fuck is Hessonite going to say? Huh? Frustrated that her little play toy isn’t working out?! Fuck her! Fuck all of you!”

“Peridot,” 5XB said, again, trying to make herself inflect better.

“She doesn’t respect me. The Ruby hates me, you hate me, the crew hates me, even I hate me! What the fuck do you want? What in the hell do you have to say?”

Squaridot was crying now. Angry tears came from her single eye. 5XB had since deactivated the field after her comment about jeering.

“Shhh,” 5XB said, bringing the Peridot into a hug.

“I don’t want your goddamn pity,” Squaridot repeated.

“My pity comes at a premium,” 5XB said, patting her on the back. 

“Stop,” Squaridot said, struggling against the hug. “Stars, get the fuck off me.”

“Come on,” 5XB said, breaking the hug. “Let’s go back in.”

5XB turned behind to see Navy picking up Eyeball and carrying her off. 5XB’s blow had struck her right on the Gem and stunned her. She hadn’t poofed, but she wasn’t at full anymore. Best leave the fight on that note.

5XB put a hand on Squaridot’s shoulder and lead her back into the fortress. Squaridot spared one last look at the two Rubies before following her.

“I could have taken her,” Squaridot spat. “I could have. I didn’t need you.”

“You kill a crew member and you’ll be drowning in legal actions until they unveil the Era 3’s,” 5XB replied. 

“Fuck you.”

“You need better retorts.”

“You need to mind your own business.”

“A bad work environment is my business.”

“Of, fucking, course it is,” Squaridot grumbled.

“What that Ruby said was out of line,” 5XB said, as they passed under the opening.

“She’s right,” Squaridot said. “Look at us. We’re even more disposable than the Rubies. They can at least shape shift or summon fire. Us? They can just make a new Gem and give them the Limb Enhancers, and boom we’ve been completely replaced.”

“I don’t think Hessonite thinks of you that way.”

“What the hell do you know?”

5XB didn’t respond to that. She couldn’t, what did she know about their relationship? Besides, she’d stopped the fight, that’s all that mattered.

“Did you talk to her about how you feel?” 5XB asked, shifting the conversation slightly.

“She said she’d forget me ‘talking out of turn’,” Squaridot muttered.

“Hm,” 5XB said with a nod. “What will you do then? Do you want to end it?”

“I… I don’t know,” Squaridot said, with a sigh. “I want her to talk with me. I want to know, what she thinks of me? When we’re together she’s… she’s always able to talk to me about more than just her own issues. It’s not like when some elite steps down to mess around with some lowly grunt. I always thought…” 

Squaridot didn’t finish that sentence and the two marched on in a small silence. 5XB asked 5XZ for her location so they could join her. With the location sent, the two moved to an elevator.

“I wonder if she talks about me to her friends,” Squaridot asked as the elevator descended. “I wonder if they laugh at me.”

5XB didn’t say anything to that. What could she say? “I’m sure they don’t”? How would either of them know that.

“She’d have a good laugh with them. Pointing out how easy I am to lead about. Stupid little Peridot with stars in her eye. She’s told Emerald, I’m sure of it.”

The elevator continued its descent. 5XB looked at Squaridot while Squaridot looked at the ground.

“And I thought she was different,” she continued. “She never _had_ to care, but she did. That’s what made her… that’s what made her…”

Squaridot felt like crying again.

“And maybe that was just me projecting again. It feels so stupid, you know? Like I’m asking for the bare minimum. Feeling happy that someone treats you with a modicum of respect. I shouldn’t have been happy about that, but I did. I want people to give a shit.”

The elevator stopped at the floor and opened.

Squaridot wiped her nose with her arm.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

5XB simply patted her on the back and said,

“It’s ok.”

With that the two departed from the elevator. The purple hallway had windows on the right showing a hanger. 5XZ and the rest were waiting for them in a room up ahead.


	34. Plan of Attack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Gems follow Z-II into the Stronghold. Plans are formed, confrontations are had.

“Fascinating,” Hessonite said as she looked out the window. 

Z-II had brought them to yet another laboratory and it looked out onto a large hanger. Hessonite could see dormant robots the size of the Diamonds within. Armor, weapons, and ballistics were everywhere; waiting for the day they’d finally see combat.

“Primacon created weapons for a war he would never fight,” Z-II said. “We recycled the bodies of the invaders to construct drones. They have no Spark of Life like Straxus, but they can follow orders and kill. Further in this area we have warships, and weapons capable of cracking planets open. Your broken Gravity Drive can most likely be salvaged from somewhere in here.”

“And you believe some of the ordinance here can kill that sun?” Hessonite asked.

“I believe it’s worth a try,” Z-II replied. 

“That’s not good enough,” Hessonite replied, staring out at the silent metal soldiers. “What was the purpose of these weapons?”

“A counter-attack,” Z-II said. “Primacon wanted to kill all of these mechanical monsters. He sought to raise an army and go on the offensive.”

“You’d probably need more resources than this system could supply,” Hessonite said.

“The plan was doomed to failure the moment it was conceived,” Z-II said. “The people here were content to simply be free of the occupation.”

“Yet these were still built?”

“It took a bit to bring Primacon down from his obsession.”

“What happened to him?” Hessonite asked.

“Exile. He wanted to start a war, and nobody here wanted that. I shared his concerns, however. What if more of Straxus’s species were to come and check in on the soldiers who went missing? None of them did, however. I speculate the war was winding down at that point.”

“And now?”

“Primacon is long gone.”

“Can you elaborate on that?”

“Not really. I had little to do with his banishment. He kept acting out against the new government and they stuck him on a ship and blasted it out of the system.”

They turned from the conversation when the door slid open and Squaridot and 5XB walked in. 

“I would like to see the alloy you speculate can break through the sun,” Hessonite said.

“Of course,” Z-II said.

He turned towards the other end of the lab and Hessonite followed him. 3XQ and the Robonoids went next with the two Peridots catching up to 5XZ.

“So…” 5XZ said, speaking to 5XB but looking at Squaridot.

“Play nice, she’s had a rough day,” 5XB replied.

“Uh huh,” 5XZ said, incredulously. “So, about this sun business. I’m assuming we’re gonna let, you know who out.”

5XZ made sure that Z-II and the others were in the next room when she said that.

“Probably?” 5XB said. “I mean, do you think that we’d do it? This whole thing with the Alloys, I don’t think is going anywhere.”

“We’d lose our quarry and that would be the end of it,” Squaridot said. “Do you really want to go back to Homeworld empty handed?”

“Better show up empty handed than dead,” 5XZ said, shrugging. 

They followed the others out of the laboratory to an open-air cargo lift. They descended with the Robonoids flying out to survey the area. Hessonite eyed up the giant robots. They stood at attention, primed for a war they’d never fight. There’s no way that they’d remain like that. Z-II had the perfect opportunity to unleash them on the Gems. The ship could kill a few, probably, but against a platoon they’d lose. That and if they had been reverse engineered from Straxus’s people they probably could convert themselves into vehicles, planes most likely, and shoot them out of the sky.

Hessonite stared at the robot’s green back. She didn’t trust him. Maybe he had some sentiment for the sun, maybe he had plans to carry-out Primacon’s last will, or maybe he was as crazy as the monsters who kept power in this area. She didn’t want to admit it but releasing the Starmaker seemed like the best idea at the moment.

When the elevator sat itself down they followed Z-II. The dormant robots gave way to starships. Dozens of warships lined the walls, awaiting their day of deployment. They were scaled for people the Gems’s sizes with giant bay doors to fit the robots.

“Primacon looked into ideas on compressed space,” Z-II said. “I believe your technology operates on a similar principle. You may scavenge from any of these ships. They will not see further use.”

“If the Sun were to die,” Hessonite said. “What would you do?”

“End my exile,” Z-II said. “I would take a ship and travel someplace with more people and live out the rest of my life. Sell some of the technology to live off of.”

Hessonite nodded in response. The answer was mundane; perhaps it was to detract from a bigger lie or maybe it was mundane enough to be the truth. 

They arrived at the base of one of the ships. The doors to it were open and a ramp was left extended to the floor.

“This is where I perform the experiments,” Z-II said. “Should I attempt the procedure, this ship is in perfect working order with the ability to deploy such a payload.”

He advanced up the ramp with the Gems following. Inside the ship was an onboard laboratory that had several metal samples. Z-II began explaining how to procure enough of the various metals needed from the various ore deposits they’d recovered from the occupation and added to the warships. He intended to strip a few to gain the necessary amount.

Squaridot scanned the alloy he had presented and began analyzing the content. The alloy’s heat resistance was incredible, but the melting points for the various metals were different and the alloy could come apart should one melt before the others. The Starmaker was their only chance.

Z-II and Hessonite discussed his plan while Squaridot related this to the others.

“We’ll see what the Captain decides,” 3XQ said.

The observations concluded they returned to the ship. The journey back was quiet save for Z-II and the Captain’s discussion. 5XZ hung back with 5XB and asked,

“So… what’s with you and blockhead? Is she our friend now?”

“Yes. So, it’s best not to call her that anymore,” 5XB replied.

“Pericube?”

“That just sounds like a pet-name.”

“Bleh, you’re right.”

The group finally came back to the tarmac where the other Robonoids and the Rubies were waiting. 

“I’m going to consult with the crew,” Hessonite said to him.

“I can just wait outside,” Z-II said.

“The Robonoids will keep you company,” Hessonite said. “If you have any problems, wave one over and ask to speak with me. They can work as a communicator.”

“Understood,” Z-II replied.

Z-II remained outside with the Robonoids as the Gems filed into the Sculling. Hessonite ordered a meeting with the crew on the Bridge and when everyone was there, she spoke,

“I don’t like it. There’re too many variables in his story. I refuse to believe that he was able to hide from the sun like that for who knows how many centuries.”

“Maybe the Sun doesn’t recognize him, because he’s a machine?” 5XZ asked.

“It killed Straxus and his troops; they were machines,” 5XB said.

“Yeah, but they have unique energy signatures as part of their creation,” 5XZ replied. “Regular AI drones don’t have that.”

“No real proof to indicate Primacon just got exiled,” 3XQ said.

“The Alloy he proposed probably won’t withstand the sun’s heat,” Squaridot said. “The temperature he’d need to raise them to just to fuse them together is probably far below that of the sun. It’d come apart.”

Hessonite nodded.

“Can the Drive be fixed?” Navy asked.

“Probably,” Hessonite replied. “We can easily salvage and rework the drives on these more advanced warships.”

“What about the Starmaker?” Squaridot asked.

“Yeah,” 5XZ said, scratching the back of her head. “The Alloys look like a dead-end. We might need to, uh, use her.”

The crew all looked at Hessonite. The answer was obvious from the moment they’d met Z-II. What better to take a star out of this universe than something that brought it in? They didn’t need to be mentally linked with it to know that.

“It seems to be our only option,” Hessonite said with a sigh.

“Should we tell Z-II that we have her onboard?” 5XZ asked.

“It seems we’ll have to,” Hessonite replied. “Be prepared in case he tries anything.”

Hessonite began to discuss options. The best they could do was simply let the Starmaker out and send it at the Star. They couldn’t reinforce it or fight alongside it or anything. They were just left crossing their fingers and hoping that it would do the job for them. They speculated on just executing Z-II right then and there; blasting him with the Robonoids before he could make his move, whatever it was. Eyeball had suggested it but Hessonite declined; better to keep him as an uneasy ally than risk fighting him, he had a planet of weapons after all.

With the barest idea of a plan in motion, Hessonite ordered everyone to begin preparations for combat and launch. 3XQ and four other Amethysts went out to set up a perimeter around the ship. The Peridots and Rubys examined the ship’s controls, 5XB in particular examining the Starmap. With the Sun beyond the field the map was working a lot better.

Hessonite asked Squaridot to come with her. The Peridot shared a glance with 5XB who gave her a nod. 5XB hoped that nod looked encouraging. Squaridot followed the Captain down the ship’s halls. She wondered what Hessonite would say. How would she approach this situation? There were no other Gems here; they’d all been assigned to tasks elsewhere. Hessonite didn’t even look back at her. 

They walked past the crews’ quarters down to the engine room. Hessonite leading her to the still non-functioning Gravity-Drive. The door shut behind them and Hessonite turned to her and sat on the machine.

“Well, this is a fine mess I’ve landed us in,” Hessonite said.

Squaridot didn’t know how she should answer that. A joke? A nod? Something to play it off?

“I ordered us into a dangerous situation with the Weblum,” Hessonite continued. “And whatever freak of nature we’ve ended up under, I take full responsibility.”

Squaridot nodded.

“I don’t like to make excuses,” Hessonite said. “I’m the Captain, the blame stops at me.”

Squaridot simply nodded again.

“I invalidated your concerns,” Hessonite said with a sigh. “I reacted poorly to a question you had every right to ask. I didn’t think about you and how you felt and the idea that I should confused me. That was wrong and the fact that I kept questioning it was proof enough. I’m not a particularly selfless person, and I need to look at that as a flaw rather than a trait.”

Squaridot blinked her eye in surprise. She hadn’t expected this. She was debating how she’d tell it to the Captain. She thought about getting angry and about them yelling at each other. This was almost a letdown… no that wasn’t the right word. A letdown felt too negative as if she was hoping for the anger and the yelling. She could feel herself deflating.

“I’m sorry to,” Squaridot said. “I overreacted.”

“You didn’t, unfortunately,” Hessonite said. “What you said was true.”

“It can’t all have been true?”

“Enough of it was.”

Squaridot leaned against the far wall and let out a sigh.

Hessonite simply sat there, her face unreadable. 

“I wish… I wished you’d talked to me,” Squaridot said. “I wish that you felt I was someone worth talking to about this.”

Hessonite only nodded.

“I… you hurt me,” Squaridot said. “I don’t know how to feel now honestly. I mean I like you and your wonderful… but I think I invest too much of myself in what you think of me.”

Hessonite nodded again, listening instead of speaking.

“I don’t know what we should do,” Squaridot said.

“I take you for granted sometimes,” Hessonite said. “I try to pretend I don’t but I know it’s still there.”

“Maybe… maybe we should take a break?” Squaridot asked.

“I can have you transferred from my unit,” Hessonite said. “If you need your space, I can do that when we get back.”

“That seems, I don’t know,” Squaridot said with a sigh. “This is just happening so fast, and I- Just like that? Are we done?”

“If you want to end it, I won’t hold it against you,” Hessonite said.

“No!” Squaridot said, with a bit more force than she intended. “I mean, no. I don’t think this means we should end it. Does it? No. No, we can… we can sort something out.”

“Sometimes I treat you as an inferior, instead of a lover,” Hessonite said. “I don’t want to admit it, but that’s how it is. Maybe fraternization was never a good idea.”

“When has that stopped anyone?” Squaridot grumbled.

Hessonite chuckled at that.

“I don’t know,” Squaridot continued. “Maybe a break would be good? There’s just, so much I’m trying to articulate. I can’t really know how I feel about this whole situation. I think I came down too hard on the idea that you hate me? But I think with that I’m just blaming myself? Stars, I don’t know.”

Hessonite reached out and patted her on the shoulder, a small gesture and with a calculated lack of intimacy. Squaridot still pulled her in for a hug anyway. 

“I can give you your space” Hessonite said, hugging her back. “And don’t ever think you’re not worth it. You will always be.”


	35. Freedom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hessonite let's the Starmaker out.

Hessonite dismissed the guards as she entered into the hold. The Starmaker’s eye drifted down to look at her. She’d just previously informed Z-II that the squid was onboard and what course of action the crew had decided on.

“Alright, listen up,” Hessonite said. “We’ve got a new plan.”

_You are releasing me to defeat the Star?_

Her tone indicated it more as a statement rather than a question.

“Primacon’s robot assistant is here, he’s got an arsenal of weapons that would hurt us far more than it could hurt the sun,” Hessonite continued. “He claims to want to help us, but I don’t think he can. If anything, I’m sure he’ll turn against us.”

_I’m sure he will. Is that what you want me to do? To kill him?_

“No, we can handle him,” Hessonite said. “Can you do it? Can you kill the sun?”

_I believe I can._

“ _Will_ you though?”

_What do you mean?_

“I know you organics get oddly sentimental about these things. If, when faced with killing your child, you hesitate, then it could all be over for us.”

_You speak as if empathy is a purely organic feeling and further that it is a flaw. My child is in pain and to prolong that pain drives against the core of my being. It is my capacity for empathy that will allow me to end her suffering._

“Good.”

_You did right by that green Gem._

“Alright, come off it.”

_You should feel better now if anything, getting that out in the open is important._

“I’m going to let you out now, and when I do, there will be no more talk of this,” Hessonite said, annoyed.

_I will need to deposit my eggs somewhere first, after that, I will tell you when I make my attack on the sun._

“Very well.” Hessonite said, before inputting the codes into the computer.

The Hold doors opened and the cage released the Starmaker. The beast hovered in the air, its tentacles beginning to move; stretching away the stiffness. The feeding tentacle had completely grown back and they all billowed from its frame as if it were immersed in water. The Starmaker flew out from the ship. Z-II and the other Gems watched as the beast exited. It drew up its tentacles and launched itself, flying away from the ship and from the base off into the distance.

“Stars, I hope this works,” Hessonite muttered as she closed the hold’s doors.

With that done she turned and headed through the Hold’s doors to where Squaridot was waiting.

“It’s done,” Hessonite said.

“I think you made the right choice,” Squaridot said.

“I hope so,” Hessonite said, walking past Squaridot, the Peridot moving in step behind her. “I’ve got a mission for you.”

“Captain?” Squaridot asked.

“Take the Peridots and the Rubies and go with Z-II. Have him give you the drive parts you need.”

“Why the Rubies?” 

“Protection. Z-II isn’t someone to be trusted. Is there an issue?”

“The one with the Eye Gem tried to kill me.”

“She’s like that yes. Did you try to kill her back?”

“Of course. 5XB stopped us though.”

“Well that’s a lesson learned all around. Are you comfortable working around her?”

“I’ll crush her into dust and scatter her into the nearest Smelting Pool if she tries anything.”

Hessonite stopped at that, turned and clapped the Peridot on the shoulder.

“That’s what I like to hear.”

Squaridot smiled at that, not necessarily a threatening smile, but one with a small amount of warmth; and said,

“Thank you, Captain.”


	36. A Debt of Pain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Gems set their plan into motion and Z-II has one last memory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm using this chapter to wrap up the final bits of the flashback, or one of the bits at least. The chapters would be too short, so I slapped them together. The testament itself is like an internal flashback for Z-II.
> 
> Also, if you couldn't tell, the summaries all told in italics first person were the Sun's musings.

Squaridot joined the four Gems, two Robonoids, and the robot out on the Tarmac. 5XB and Eyeball were discussing something and judging by the pictures on 5XB’s screen, it was the possible lower tech replacements to the Gravity Generator’s parts. 5XZ and Navy were asking Z-II a series of stupid questions like if he remembered his own birth or if he was capable of the foreign concept of “eating.” The Gems had been informed of the plan and had already relayed it to Z-II, save for the part where they didn’t trust him. 

“And… have you ever figured out how that breathing thing works?” Navy asked Z-II.

“I understand it enough.” Z-Ii replied. “The breathing apparatus requires alveoli and that alveoli in turn requires oxygen to absorb. Certain species require more and certain require less. There was a minority caste on Lapp that required nitrogen to breath and they had to wear masks all the time.”

“Wow…” Navy said, her eyes large and curious. “Organics have so many fascinating ways to die!”

“And the soldiers that Primacon destroyed,” 5XZ asked. “How did they, ‘eat’?”

“They consumed power,” Z-II said. “That could be in solar quantities or from when they harvested our star. They had this fascinating procedure called ‘Pink Alchemy’ wherein they’d bleed organics and convert their blood into a kind of beverage to power themselves. It was very ineffective and could only supplement their diets rather than feed them.”

“Ok, listen up,” Squaridot said, drawing their attention. “We begin the salvage now.”

The six began their descent back into the base. Squaridot and 5XB were at the front; Z-II, 5XZ, and Navy brought up the middle, still talking; and Eyeball brought up the rear, flanked by the two Robonoids, and grumbling to herself.

“You spoke to her?” 5XB asked.

“I did,” Squaridot responded. “It went better than I hoped it would.”

“Good,” 5XB said, smiling slightly.

“I’m taking a break.”

“If you feel that you need that.”

“I do,” Squaridot said as they all piled into the elevator. “Thank you for listening to me.”

5XB smiled again and lightly thumped her on the shoulder, saying, “Glad I could help.”

 

**The Final Testament of Z-II**

 

They saw the ship crash. Straxus’s flagship was still intact, more or less, a command to the Star to not completely destroy it like all of the others. Primacon, Z-II, and a group of rebels watched as the remains of Straxus’s fleet were destroyed; great fireballs incinerating the once proud ships.

“Take us down,” Primacon said, eyes focused on where Straxus had landed.

Straxus’s ship had touched down on New Polyhex and the center had melted and caved in on top of the crew. The command deck had fallen forward and collapsed into the molten center, destroying the Bridge. 

“Primacon, please,” said the Gorth Representative. “Call off the attack. You’ve destroyed the cities of Lour and Ketz. Our people are dying.”

“It was their choice to live there,” Primacon replied. “This is the consequences of their actions.”

“They had no choice! They couldn’t leave their controlled cities under pain of death,” the Representative said. “You condemn them to burn with our conquerors because you couldn’t be bothered to force them out. Torching the cities is just easier for you!”

“You think I care about collaborators?” Primacon spat. “They made their bed, they chose to live amongst our oppressors. They can die with them.”

“That’s a lie and you know it!” the Representative yelled. “They were just living, trapped under the machines’ rule as we were. The arrogance to which you produce these claims is astounding. The contempt you have for the lives of others is repugnant. You pass yourself off as-”

Primacon silenced him with a wave of his hand, signaling Z-II to walk up behind him and snap the Representative’s neck.

“I want to examine that wreckage,” Primacon said. “Now take us down!”

 

The ship touched down on New Polyhex and Primacon and the rebels got out. They all wore breathing devices to shelter themselves from the toxic air of the planet. Behind Primacon marched Z-II, the scientists Primacon had worked with to build the sun, and a host of other soldiers. Many had perished, not just by the occupation’s hand, but by the passage of time. For 15 years, Straxus had ruled them with an iron fist. His dictatorship had crumpled within a month after they got the sun into the sky and laid waste to his kingdom. 

From the remains of the ship, Straxus tore his way out. Primacon looked upon the injured dictator. His scythe was still in hand and he used it to balance himself as he limped from his ruined ship. His armor was in a terrible state: torn, damaged, and melting off him in sections. He grabbed a handful of the molten steel that was burning into his shoulder and threw it off. The thick liquid burning his hand but not in a severe way. His left leg was mangled; twisted and torn with his foot missing. 

Straxus limped from the burning wreckage of his ship before falling down, Primacon and the others approaching him. His empty optics traced their movement as they got closer, Z-II and the soldiers leveling rifles at him. In this damaged state they could easily kill him. Straxus let out a mirthless laugh at the situation.

“Laugh all you like, monster, you’ve lost,” Primacon said. “Your kingdom is in ruins; your empire burns as we speak. The one’s you’ve trodden underfoot have finally torn you down.”

“It’s almost poetic,” Straxus replied.

“I do this for all the lives you’ve taken, all the suffering you’ve inflicted,” Primacon said. “Cierla, Martul, and so many others you’ve so callously cut down for-”

“Your cities burn and your people burn with them,” Straxus interrupted. “I will not be lectured in callousness by a creature as pathetic as you. You owe me.”

“What?!” Primacon shouted.

“I’ve given you a debt of suffering you can’t hope to repay,” Straxus said. “You can never inflict even a fraction of your pain onto me. Were I capable of pity I’d almost feel it.”

“I can make your end a painful one, I can extend it,” Primacon yelled.

“And?” Straxus asked. “I extended your end by years, I’ve killed dozens as a means to inflict pain onto you. I took everything of value I could from you including your own flesh. I’ve killed over three quarters of the population here. What can you do?”

“Your race,” Primacon said. “I’ll take the war to them, I’ll see them exterminated just like you!”

“You think I give a damn about my species?” Straxus asked. “Our kind signed its death warrant millennia ago. We’re just all waiting for the end to reach us. Primacon… I almost wanted to say that we weren’t so different, but sadly we are. You can kill your own people all you want, but you’ll still be a weak little organic from a backwater solar system. Killing me won’t change the fact that I’ve hurt you. I’ve hurt this entire system; I’ve taken so much that you’ll never be able to get back.”

Primacon glared at him, seething in anger. 

“I won’t live,” Straxus continued, struggling into a sitting position. “But I’ve crippled you in a way you’ll never recover from. I’ve crippled this solar system permanently. Even your Sun… you think the Sun will remain loyal to you?”

“I engineered your downfall,” Primacon spat. “You lie here on the brink of death because of me!”

“And you’ll forever lie a broken man with only graves to talk to,” Straxus said.

At that, Straxus lunged forward hurling his Scythe at the party. They immediately opened fire, blasts destroying the scythe and striking Straxus. Z-II’s shot struck Straxus’s in his shoulder, exposed from the melted steel he scraped off, and blew the arm off. The other shots struck Straxus repeatedly, burning through his chest and head. His torso collapsed in on itself with the molten metal and he fell forward, dead. His face had a few bullet holes but was nonetheless identifiable. Straxus had been slain, but still Primacon emptied his personal blaster into the dead tyrant’s head, cursing his name again and again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I did what you asked me to. Every one of them burned, except the ones in the central fortress. I kept hurting them until they all died. I saw her run though. When I destroyed the Warworld, she flew away; that amount of heat isn’t enough to kill a Starmaker. She’s leaving me behind, I suppose. I am a star after all, her job is done._
> 
> _I watched her go… She pushed through space as if it were some kind of tangible area. I watched her fly away, getting smaller and smaller. Leaving me here with you. My siblings are gone, their remains cleaned up and disposed of._
> 
> _What now, Father? They’re all dead, either by my hand or yours. You’ve never stopped being angry even if you did kill Straxus. You don’t ever talk to me but to yell about all of the people here and how ungrateful they are. Do you want me to kill them? I can see all of the life everything has, the energy that keeps them moving. Sometimes I kill them if I get curious. I focus in on something, it can be an animal, or a plant, or a person; and I just take from them until they aren’t alive anymore. I’m getting better at it! Honest!_
> 
> _I asked you if I should do it. Should I feel guilty? I don’t… I don’t think I’m capable of feeling that, but I don’t know. If I kill them, they stop moving, and then what? They become less interesting when they don’t move… but I can watch them decay. It’s so fascinating. When they’ve decayed then they stop being interesting. I suppose I shouldn’t kill them all._


	37. Daybreak on Praxis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What do they say about the best laid plans?

“Alright,” Squaridot said pulling up the hanger’s map on her holoscreen. “Rubies, go to this ship.”

On the holoscreen, a ship lit up.

“It’s got a customized warp unit that’s fairly advanced. Remove it and bring it to the lab.”

“Roger,” Navy said.

“Damage free,” Squaridot said.

“I can detach it from the ship easily,” Navy replied.

“5XZ, 5XB; you two go with Z-II into the control center. Help to coordinate. He’s going to look through more ship-schematics to find what we need.”

The Peridots nodded.

“I,” Squaridot said, pointing a finger up to one of the smaller ships suspended near the ceiling. “Am going to that pleasure cruiser. It was the pet project of one of the scientists here, it seems to have an experimental engine and I want to check it out.”

With that, Squaridot activated the helicopter function on her hand and flew upwards to the ship. She landed on its flank, her limb enhancer magnetically attaching her to the ship’s hull. The Rubies headed off in the direction of the ship they’d been assigned and the remaining Peridots followed Z-II into the control center.

The control center was a large tower in the hanger, it’s top having a panoramic view. Cable-cars lined the ceiling and allowed easy travel between the suspended ships and the towers where control operators worked. Z-II, the Peridots, and the Robonoids rode the elevator to the top.

They stepped out of the elevator and began working at the consoles.

“Ship 772 has an experimental ‘Ghost Drive’ on it,” Z-II said as he typed away. “It allows for density shifts within the ship. Perhaps not what you’re looking for but worth a check.”

“Acknowledged,” 5XB said, inputting that into her holoscreen.

“So, Z-II, are you going to miss the Sun?” 5XZ asked as she began to search through the nearest console.

“I’ve lived my best life and so has she,” Z-II said, not looking up from his screen. “She’ll die some day and eventually I’ll die as well. The universe is finite and so are the beings within it.”

“You ever talk to her?” 5XZ asked. “While she was in development I mean. I see Primacon talking on the tapes, but not you.”

“Primacon saw it necessary to attach himself as the sole communicator to the Sun,” Z-II replied. “It made her easier to control. She’d have no other person to talk to and none of us tried engaging her whenever she’d ask us.”

5XB saw him selecting various ships as he flipped through screens, eventually moving onto robots and other weapons.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Several of the blasters were designed around theoretical physics,” Z-II said. “I’m trying to see if we can gain anything from them.”

“How did you stand it?” 5XZ asked. “Being alone here… it’s just so maddening.”

“I coped,” Z-II said, typing more. “All these centuries, I coped. I wanted to see it to the end. I set this in motion and it’s only right that I be there when it concludes.”

“I suppose,” 5XZ responded, rubbing her chin. “I mean wow, I’d just feel really guilty if it was only me left.”

“I don’t feel guilty,” Z-II said as he pulled up the hangar canopy. “Oh, by the way, the roof over head can be opened in sections. It makes for ease of access for the ships.”

“Makes sense,” 5XB said.

“But back to your statement,” Z-II said to 5XZ. “I never could feel real guilt for anyone, it’s not part of my programming. Primacon lost all of his friends and family except me. I wonder if Straxus subconsciously put his trust in a fellow robot? Still, I could never feel the loss he felt, I could understand it but never empathize with it.”

5XB received a call from Squaridot who asked why part of the roof was opening, 5XB explaining the situation.

“When the sun began convincing everyone to die, the scientists here on Praxis tried their hardest to fight its effects and find a way to free everyone,” Z-II continued, accessing the holo-shield on the planet. “It was such a shame I had to kill them. 219 people all managing to hide away in bunkers or through cloaking tech, scattered about the planet. Desperately calling for help from a populace too enraptured by their Star. I remember hunting every last one down and throwing their slain bodies into the smelting pits. I was the architect of my isolation.”

5XZ blinked at that, stunned. “I’m sorry, what?”

Z-II pressed a button on the console and sent the kill code to the holo-shield. With that, he reached under the console and pulled out a shotgun, whirled around and blasted away the nearest Robonoid.

The second fired a blast of electricity at him and he tucked and rolled, the stream frying the console and blowing out the viewing window. Z-II returned fire, destroying the second Robonoid with another shotgun blast. He rounded on 5XZ, pumping out the spent shell; only for the Shotgun to be blown in half by 5XB who was quicker on the update.

“Z-II’s turned on us!” She yelled into her communicator before unleashing a volley of shots at the Robot. 

Z-II twisted, positioning his right shoulder shield to take the blasts. They burned small holes in his armor, but nothing too damaging. He grabbed an axe from his side and extended it; the blade rapidly heating up. The verniers in his feet fired up, allowing him to glide a few inches off the floor and he flew at 5XB, closing the distance between them at a frightening speed. 

She desperately fired a few more shots, each burning into his armor but not completely piercing through it. He swung his heat axe in an arc, slicing through her extended limb-enhancer from wrist stump to elbow. It took the top part off, destroying a finger and scattering the other four; fortunately for her it glided just above where her physical form was integrated in.

Z-II grabbed her torso with his other arm and slammed her into the control slab with enough force to smash the keyboard and stun her. He brought his axe above his head and was prepared to slice her with it when he felt his arm get caught. He looked up to see 5XZ grabbing his axe in a tractor beam. She was clearly struggling to hold him and he figured that too much exertion against it would damage his arm. He picked 5XB up and flung her at the other Peridot, the tractor beam deactivating when the pair collided and fell in a heap.

Z-II advanced on them, gliding over with his axe raised in two hands. Squaridot flew through the smashed window on her helicopter limb, straight at the robot. She pulled up, deactivated her blades and let the inertia carry her forward, landing both of her feet onto the bot with a powerful drop kick, knocking him to the ground.

Squaridot crashed down on her back, rolled, and stood up; ready for action. 5XZ and 5XB similarly untangled themselves and stood at the ready. 5XZ converted both of her arms into blastermode, while 5XB used her tractor beam to drag the four undamaged fingers to her. Only two would return to orbit around her mangled stump, fitting as about half of the diameter of her wrist was lopped off. Above them, the digital field was giving away. The sun shone down on them now, bathing the planet in its glow.

“To have her smile upon me once more,” Z-II said. “That, that will be my exit.”

He activated his verniers and charged at the Peridots again. 5XZ released a rapid fire of energy shots, while 5XB picked up a piece of broken machinery with her tractor beam and hurled it at him. He sliced through it easily, but as he was about to slash at them, Squaridot erected a green light shield, an extension she’d been tinkering with on her enhancers. Z-II slashed at it, cracking the light shield in several places, and shattering it with his second swing.

The three spread out to attempt to circle him, but he was too fast. He cracked Squaridot across the face with his axe-hilt, but with his attention at her, 5XZ grabbed him from behind and activated the shocker weapon in her Limb Enhancers. Electricity surged through the robot and it felt like all of his circuitry was on fire. 

With a roar, he activated his thrusters to full and flew backwards, smashing 5XZ through the far console. 5XB fired her remaining limb blaster at his left leg, focusing on one of his verniers while she ran to Squaridot. She blew off his external leg wiring and smashed the targeted Vernier. She looked to Squaridot who was struggling to her feet. 

“How do we kill this guy?” Squaridot shouted as she stood up.

“What’s the Captain’s ETA?” 5XB responded, her shots finally punching through his knee armor and damaging the joint.

“Too far,” Squaridot said, before tackling 5XB.

The heat-axe soared over their heads and buried itself into the console behind them. Z-II blasted off on his feet-based engines and crossed the room quickly, retrieving his axe. 5XB used her tractor beam to grab him in a green bubble but he easily punched his way through, shattering her hold almost immediately. 5XB flung herself forward, pressing her limb enhancer against his chest and began to hack into his mind. Her limb-enhancers could sync with his matrix and she began to withdraw and process data. Z-II just back handed her and grabbed Squaridot, saying,

“Your physiology is amazing, you know that? The sum total of your being and consciousness is simply a rock affixed to a body that doesn’t actually exist. Primacon would have been happy to crack one of you open.”

“Why the hell are you doing this!” Squaridot shouted. 

“Part of me wants to fulfill Primacon’s last request,” Z-II said. “The other part was taken in by the sheer scale of death that the Sun brought to this system and sought to see that to its completion. The sun has judged us and we are not worthy.”

“The sun isn’t some deity!” Squaridot shouted. “You created her!”

“The Stars and their makers might as well be deities for the awesome power they hold,” Z-II said, storing the Axe on his waist. “After all the agony it endured by our hands, the Sun sought a reckoning. I promised myself that I would give as many lives to her as I could before giving my own.”

He held Squaridot by the neck and reached his other hand to her Gem. He gingerly grasped it between thumb and forefinger.

“This body is equipped with enough strength to crush that rock-like core of your species. It’s as easy as squishing a bug.”

5XB lined up another shot. She needed to shoot, but his armor was too tough. His eye? Could she make that shot? Should she shoot Squaridot? Losing her form would make him lose his grip on her but he also held her Gem, so that was a bust.

“Put her down!”

5XB and Z-II turned to the voice. It was Eyeball; she and Navy had just emerged from the elevator. 

“Now I,” Eyeball said. “I don’t care what you do to that cube headed bitch.”

“But I do!” Navy said.

“Yeah, but she does,” Eyeball grumbled. “For some reason. And we can’t just let you kill our coworkers.”

With that the two Rubies joined hands and fused together. A taller Ruby emerged, her twin Gems located on her stomach and her eye. From the Eye she drew a gladius, a short sword, and advanced on the robot. Z-II dropped Squaridot, drew his heat axe, activated his verniers and flew at the Ruby.

They both swung their weapons, clashing them together in front of them. The shock knocked both back a step. The Ruby fusion swung again, Z-II turning to take the blow in his shoulder shield. The sword struck it, leaving a groove, but not piercing it. Z-II spun on his feet mounted glider jets and slammed his left spiked shoulder into the Ruby’s chest. The spikes pierced the physical form, but she held together, even with that pain.

The Ruby fusion crashed into another console, and Z-II got off of her. He reared back for a strike with his axe only for a large metal rod to come flying into him, piercing his knee. 5XZ had grabbed the bent metal of the window frame he’d shattered and hurled it at him with her tractor beam, piercing the knee who’s armor 5XB had blasted off.

The Ruby fusion got up and swung her sword again, the blade heating itself. When Z-II blocked with his shoulder shield, she sliced through it. She changed tactics, striking at his side with the injured leg and lessened ambulation. He blocked it with his axe and struck her eye gem with his other hand’s fist. She stumbled back and he swung again, this time she blocked with her weapon, she held the sword with one hand and braced the flat of the blade against the other to better absorb the blow.

The impact again made both stagger back, but Z-II recovered a lot faster. He swung his axe one handed only to be stopped again. This time, all three Peridots had grabbed onto his arm with their tractor beams and this time the hold stayed.

The Ruby fusion took advantage of the distraction and swung her sword again, its heat allowing it to cut off Z-II’s arm at the elbow. With that, she plunged the sword through his chest.

Z-II stumbled slightly, his voice box emitting a glitched burble. 

“It’s done,” 5XB said.

“I…” Z-II said, his eye turning skyward. “I feel the warmth… her warmth, again.”

With that, the Ruby Fusion turned up the heat on her gladius. The sword erupted in flame and melted his insides, killing the robot. With his death she tore the sword out, demanifested it, and unfused.

“Yes!” Eyeball said, fist in the air. “Finally, we got to kill something.”

“Congrats,” 5XB said. “With your bloodlust subsided, let’s get the hell out of here before something worse happens.”

“Something worse is happening!” 5XZ said, her eyes glued to one of the still intact consoles. “The mechs are waking up.”

“Damn,” Squaridot said, opening her communicator. “Captain, Z-II has been neutralized, but we have bigger problems. The combat units are activating and as you can probably see the Sun has a clear view of us.”

“Roger,” Hessonite replied. “Leave the facility and return to the ship. We can access the space ship drives later. Safety is your team’s priority.”

Hessonite terminated the call and Squaridot turned to the other five. 

“We’re returning to the ship, leave the equipment,” she said.

“We found the customized Warp Drive,” Navy said, pointing to the elevator where the Drive sat. “We should bring it. This whole section could be destroyed if the Sun gets her eyes on us.”

“Yeah,” 5XZ said. “Best think about the future. We can just carry it with the tractor beams.”

“Fine,” Squaridot said. “If it’s too much we abandon it and go to the ship. 5XB, how are you holding up?”

“One enhancer is fine,” 5XB said, looking at her mangled arm with only 2 fingers still floating. “I can still fly.”

“Right then, let’s move out.” Squaridot said.

The Rubies went to the damaged window and leapt up; their innate Gem ability to float allowing them to clear the ceiling opening with ease. The three Peridots activated their copter extensions and flew from the window; Squaridot and 5XZ grabbing the drive in their tractor beams and bringing it with them.

5XB spared a look behind them at Z-II. He was still standing; his chest a melted and mangled mess; his arm gone; and his eye dark. This would be the final resting place of the last living being of Grelt. She turned away and flew up after the others.

The ceiling doors began to close.

“Goddamnit what?” 5XZ yelled. “How! Who the hell is closing these?”

The Rubies had already cleared the doors and they looked around. There were two levels of sliding metal panels. The first was a standard hanger door that closed over the ceiling and the second was a much thicker blast door to protect from attacks.

“Ugh you guys?” Navy said. “Better hurry it up.”

5XB moved up to the Drive and began to push it with her damaged limb enhancer. Squaridot and 5XZ cleared the closing hanger door with the drive just barely scraping past. 5XB had the doors close on her left foot, trapping her.

“Aw damnit!” she shouted, desperately trying to pull it out as the much larger blast doors slowly closed around her.

“Hold on!” 5XZ yelled, deactivating her tractor beam and reconverting that limb into its blaster. “If you hold still I can shoot you free.”

Squaridot struggled with the drive, her single tractor beam trying to adjust for the new weight.

“You damn well better not!” 5XB shouted back.

She moved her damaged limb-enhancer down and had one of the fingers fly to and press a button on her leg. A connection along her foot flashed and detached. The disconnect launched her up in the air, footless, but alive.

“Alright, let’s go,” 5XB said as 5XZ grabbed the Drive with her tractor beam again.

5XB flew down to have the two Rubies jump onto her before following the other Peridots.

The sun loomed above them. It wasn’t raining fire down and it didn’t look any different from when the last saw it. But it _was_ different now, the Gems could feel it. It was watching, debating on what it should do to them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, since Z-II is a reference to the Zaku FZ from 0080 War in the Pocket, I patterned some of his attacks on that model as well. The part where he slices through 5XB's arm was done in reference to when that Zaku sliced through the ALEX Gundam's arm gun.


	38. The Advance Towards War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More of the machines cause problems.

“Z-II’s turned on us!”

With that message received, Hessonite ordered 3XQ and four other Amethysts to accompany her to assist the Peridots; bringing 2 Robonoids with them. They sprinted across the tarmac to the base and as they ran they saw the hologram sky slowly fizzle away revealing the sun.

“Oh crap,” 3XQ said. “Captain?!”

“We stop Z-II first, then we worry about the Sun,” Hessonite shouted back. 

In the distance they could see parts of the ground opening up. Steel doors that hadn’t moved for centuries peeled back, exposing the hanger’s underneath. From one hold a large metal hand reached up, grabbed the edge, and pulled itself out.

The Gems saw a tall metal robot advancing on them. He was one of Primacon’s later creations, built from the scraps of the former occupation. He was smaller than Straxus, but big enough. What started off as a lumbering trott turned into a run.

“Captain?” 3XQ asked.

“Hang back,” Hessonite yelled. “He’s mine.”

Hessonite charged forward, meeting the robot’s advance. When he got close enough, he threw a downward punch, Hessonite dodged, and the fist smashed into the ground. She hopped up onto his arm and sprinted to his head, drawing her sword. She slashed at him, cutting from cheek to eye and splitting his head in half. She leapt off his body and alighted gently behind him whilst the robot fell forward, dead.

“Amazing,” 3XQ said.

“Great, now let’s keep going,” Hessonite said, before turning and running towards the base.

When they’d almost reached the entrance, she received another call from Squaridot.

“Captain, Z-II has been neutralized, but we have bigger problems. The combat units are activating and as you can probably see the Sun has a clear view of us.”

“Roger,” Hessonite said. “Leave the facility and return to the ship. We can access the space ship drives later. Safety is your team’s priority.”

With that she ended the call and turned to the others.

“Z-II’s down, and they’re falling back to the ship,” Hessonite said. “There’s more combat mechs coming out. We need to go, now.”

The group turned back and sprinted to the ship. From their right a piece of construction equipment drove towards them. It was for paving the tarmac and it had a large mixing drum. Panels opened up all along the machine and its drum; the machine reconfigured itself. Claws emerged, the drum split into four shields (two on its shoulders and two on its arms), and a multi eyed head popped up. The robot stood before them, hunched over, with large claws, long arms, and a primal stance.

“Pick us up,” Hessonite said into her Gem’s holoscreen, speaking to the Amethysts still at the ship.

The two Robonoids unleashed a stream of lightening which the machine caught in its arm shields as it barreled towards them. It lunged forward, burying its claws into the ground and shifting its mechanical body again. This time a gun emerged and the creature had turned itself into a turret. The Gems and Robonoids split up as the area they were just standing erupted from its blast.

One Amethyst manifested a hammer, a large metal weight on the end of a chain, and spun herself around. She tossed the weapon right at the machine, striking its shield with enough force to leave a dent and knocking it over.

As it got to its feet, 3XQ and another Amethyst ran at its legs. It swung its claws down, catching and poofing the other Amethyst before 3XQ hit its hand with her Sledgehammer, mangling it.

The Machine lunged forward again, converting back to its cannon mode to take aim at Hessonite. A Robonoid fired a stream of electricity at its gun barrel, blowing through it and igniting its munitions. The robot’s back exploded, knocking its shoulder shields off. It pulled itself back into its bipedal mode, damaged and on fire, but functional. It grabbed the Robonoid with its good hand and crushed it before tossing it to the ground causing it to explode.

3XQ and Hessonite flanked it in that moment and smashed and slashed its knees respectively. When the machine collapsed, the remaining Robonoid unleashed a stream of electricity into its face, destroying the head. The robot fell over dead and the Gems bounded over it. 3XQ had collected the poofed Amethyst and they headed back to the ship. Above them, the Peridots and Rubies flew, hauling the Drive with them.

The five arrived at the ship first and brought the Drive inside, with Hessonite and the Amethysts following.

“Everyone ok?” Hessonite asked.

“We survived,” Squaridot said. 

“Good,” Hessonite said. “Are we prepped for take-off?”

“Yes Captain,” The Amethyst they’d left in charge of the ship said.

“Good,” Hessonite replied.

5XB limped onto the bridge, sighing.

“You ok?” 5XZ asked.

“I’ll live.”

“You can just detach the Enhancers if you want. It can be hard to walk with no foot.”

“I’ll get on that when the Stars all freeze over.”

5XZ shrugged before turning to the Rubies. 5XB limped over to a crewman’s chair near the back of the bridge. This one was by the console used to monitor the Starmaker’s life signs, and with the squid gone, the chair was in a non-crucial part of the Bridge. 

“Thanks, you guys really saved us,” 5XZ said to the Rubies.

“Oh, it was nothing except what we were made to do,” Navy said, blushing. “The protection of Gems, especially those above our status, is paramount to the success of our mission.”

“You’re lucky we did something,” Eyeball said, folding her arms. “Or you’d be in pieces.”

“And we’re happy you helped to,” Navy said, hugging Eyeball. “Without you we wouldn’t have been able to do it.”

Eyeball only grumbled unintelligibly and blushed.

Squaridot got into the pilot’s chair and began to activate the engines.

“So, Captain,” 3XQ asked, turning to Hessonite who’d since gotten into the Captain’s chair. “Where’s the Starmaker?”


	39. Saying Goodbye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Starmaker leaves to confront her child.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gonna start this from a first person POV.

**The Benzuli Expanse. The Past**

I had flown as far as I could from the Straxus’s Empire. Behind me the violation of my Child burned countless lives to cinders. I did not go back for her and I would spend centuries away, never returning to correct my mistake. I was selfish, and perhaps afraid. I flew for an unknown amount of time, my body taking a long time to heal itself because of the extent of Primacon’s experiments and my own advancing age. When I could fly no further I collapsed on an abandoned planet near the Benzuli Expanse. The system around the Expanse had all the life drained from it when the Expanse was active. Now it was just a dead anomaly, waiting for its closure.

I slept on that planet, recovering my strength; I do not know for how long. I awoke to a familiar voice in my head and when I opened my eyes I saw a form that I hadn’t seen in a while. He was an incredibly short creature, a kind of white and pink animal with a face that seemed to smile but in reality, contained no emotion.

_What do you want, Incubator?”_ I asked.

_To see you, of course,”_ he said.

_And you have._ I said.

_We thought your species had gone extinct! The last one we knew was reportedly killed by the Gogol Empire. It would have been a shame for such a brilliant species to die out._ he said.

_So, does this mean I am the last?_ I asked.

_I believe it does, yes._ he said.

_I suppose our end was inevitable._ I said.

_The stars will go on, but still our species can’t thank you enough. You’re very existence was an illogical but necessary push back against the entropy that slowly brings about the death of this universe._ he said.

_The universe will end. That’s an inevitability. Death comes for us all._ I said.

_It might come for you, but we’ve found a way to fight it off. And through our hard work our reality will exist forever._ He said.

_For an immortal, you’re painfully naïve._ I said.

_And you’re nearing the end of your life. So I must ask, what will you do now?_ He said.

_What I’ve always done. I’ll create more stars and when I find my life at its end, I’ll die._ I said. _It’s as simple as that._

_And when you die? Are you concerned? To see the end of consciousness, to no longer be able to be a being with thoughts and feelings?_ he asked.

_I’ve lived a good long life. If this is the end, I will go and meet it. You should think about your race’s end too, Incubator. Your entropy project cannot continue indefinitely. The only constant in this universe is change; fighting it is an exercise in futility._ I said.

He cocked his head at me. Maybe he was thinking on my words. I wonder if he and his kind will ever come to accept their own mortality.

 

**The Present**

The Starmaker looked to the sky as the holo-field dropped. She hovered above the ground, her time had come. She looked down to the makeshift nest she’d made in a crater. Her eggs numbered at a dozen; all healthy and all ready to hatch. 

_Be good, will you? My Stars._

With that last look, she floated into the sky. All around the planet she could see the Robots waking up. Their minds receiving images of violence. She could feel the images as well, the Sun beaming them down onto the planet.

_Oh my child, to see you like this._

She saw the Gems boarding their ship. She could feel Hessonite projecting her thoughts out at her. These Gems learn fast.

_The Sun sees us. You need to act. Now!_ Hessonite said. 

_I will. My eggs are laid and I’m going to take my leave._ The Starmaker said.

_Good._ Hessonite said. 

_Do not take them with you. Please, leave them to fly in the wild like they were born to do._ The Starmaker said.

_You can’t seriously think to trust me to do that?_ Hessonite said.

_You see the consequence of tampering with my kind up in the sky baring down at us. Billions dead, and a burning star that will last millennia. Don’t repeat their mistake._ The Starmaker said.

With that she drew up her tentacles and pushed herself forward, exiting Praxis’s gravity. She flew towards the sun, its heat meeting her in full force.

_Good luck._ was the last thought she received from Hessonite as she left the planet behind.

 

“Captain, they’re coming fast!” 3XQ said from her monitor.

The Amethyst had been assigned 5XB’s position on account of her damaged limb enhancer preventing the in-depth connection it was designed for.

“They’ve got weapons now as well,” 5XZ said.

Three of the robots were advancing on them. The ones in the center and to the left converted their arms into laser blasters while the one on the right had an arm mounted missile launcher.

“Lock light cannons on the one in the middle, scatter missiles to the other two,” Hessonite said.

“Roger,” 5XZ said, as she mentally sent commands into the ship. 

The three light cannons each fired a blast. One blew the robot’s arm off, another pierced and melted its chest, and the third destroyed its head, killing it. The missiles flew at the other two. The one with the laser cannon fired at them, destroying one missile before the other arced like a curveball and destroyed him. The final robot dodged a missile in a roll, but the explosion was so powerful he was knocked to the ground, where the fourth and final missile caught and destroyed him.

“Direct hit captain!” 5XZ exclaimed. “We just-”

5XZ was interrupted when the ship was hit with a blast, shaking them. Hessonite checked the screen to see another pair of Robots advancing near their aft. Portside a trio of robots emerged and reconfigured themselves into space ships. Starboard side, another robot had turned itself into a cannon and blasted at them. 

“They just keep coming!” Squaridot yelled.

“Get us into space,” Hessonite ordered. “We can get away from their ground-based artillery at the very least. Serpentine.”

The Sculling took off in a zig-zag, dodging the cannon bot’s fire. The space ship bots flew after them, their shapes now odd tetrahedrons that resembled fighter planes; five more joined them. They began firing at the ship. The multitudes of laser blasts were impossible to dodge and for every one they missed they fell into the path of another. 

Another blast rocked the ship, and Hessonite swore. She looked at the monitor they had displaying the Starmaker and saw that she was flying directly at the sun at incredible speed. 

“Target the pursuers,” Hessonite yelled. “All missiles.”

“Acknowledged,” 5XZ said, lining up the eight targeting reticles. 

“Deploy Flask Robonoids to damaged areas of the ship,” Hessonite barked.

“Acknowledged,” Navy said, activating the Robonoids from her console.

“Activate Battle Robonoids,” Hessonite said. “Have them ready to deploy from the ship. They’ll run interference.”

The Sculling unleashed a flurry of missiles at the eight pursuing tetra-jets. They fired upon them, destroying a couple, and engaged in evasive maneuvers. One was struck head on and was destroyed. Two others executed a barrelroll and the missiles were avoided. One turned back into a robot and evaded easier. Another was struck and destroyed as it attempted to turn into a robot. A final robot destroyed a missile with its blasters, but did so when the missile was too close. The tetra-jet received too much damage and fell from the sky, crashing in a fiery death.

Still, five of the robots pursued the Sculling, blasting at it again. The Sculling’s hatches opened up and five Robonoids flew out to engage them. They fired out large streams of electricity at the oncoming tetra-jets, who proceeded to doge them and fire back. One Robonoid was destroyed instantly, another was swatted from the sky by a jet in robot-mode. A third Robonoid outmaneuvered that robot and unleashed an electricity blast into its chest, overloading and killing it. The other Tetra-jets focused fire on the Robonoids as they fired back. All three remaining Robonoids and a single jet were destroyed in the crossfire. The three remaining jets flew after the Sculling.

The Sculling managed to make it into space, the hull patched enough to survive the atmospheric exit.

“Immelmann Turn,” Hessonite ordered. “Fire light cannons when maneuver is completed.”

Squaridot moved them in an Immelmann Turn. She maneuvered the Sculling upwards and twisted in a loop so they faced their enemies. 5XZ fired off the light cannons, one targeted at each Tetra-Jet but the jets all dodged. 5XZ changed her strategy, having all light cannons lock onto one and firing again. This time when the jet dodged a blast it fell into the path of another, destroying it. One of the jets turned back into a robot and fired a blast, destroying the remaining bottom light cannon.

“Damnit!” 5XZ yelled as Squaridot moved to evade their shots.

“That blasted squid better hurry it up,” Hessonite thought.


	40. Comfort and Victory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to put the Sun's voice in quotes and the Starmaker's in italics. Makes it easier to read.

**Domum, the past**

 

“You hypocrites!” Primacon spat.

The scientist was shackled in the prime courthouse of the city of Domum facing the grand jury. Around him the spectators watched as the Minister of Justice overviewed his case. Z-II silently watched from the crowd along with the scientists few remaining supporters.

“I’ve done all of this for you, and this is how you repay me! I liberated your ancestors!” Primacon yelled.

“Your contributions to society are indeed well known,” The Minister said, his voice even. “My grandfather spoke highly of you when you two fought to liberate Grelt. Still, your crimes cannot be overlooked.”

“You only turn on me now that you can’t benefit from my inventions anymore,” Primacon said.

“You have the incredible gall to continue to deflect any and all criticism from yourself,” The Minister said. “We’ve turned a blind-eye to your crimes for far too long. My grandfather should have jailed you the moment you torched those cities under your misguided ideas of revenge.”

“We had a war to win!” Primacon said.

“Yes,” The Minister said pulling a list up on his tablet. “And the sonic based plague you unleashed on the robotic citizens you quarantined on Praxis? The haywire battle robots on Vroth that killed the science team? The fact that you went over the heads of the police and violently stopped the protest on Milst with your battledroids is the last straw. This court has decided on your sentence.”

“Bah, I don’t submit myself to the small-minded morality you feeble minded fools’ postulate,” Primacon said. “There’s a war coming, and I’m the only one ready.”

“There is no war, Primacon!” The Minister said. “Only the delusions and grudges you’ve nursed and the amorality to which you treat your fellow citizens. The sentence is exile. It will be carried out immediately.”

Primacon was dragged from the courthouse after the trial’s conclusion. He howled and cursed them all. He demanded the Sun strike them where they stood, but the Sun would not answer him. She simply watched as her father was hauled away to a ship with only an onboard AI to pilot it. She watched as the man who created her and engineered her torment was locked in a stasis pod and put into cryogenic sleep. She watched as the ship carrying the man who’d groomed her into a weapon took off. She’d struggled with her feelings about her father. The idea of love was what she believed she felt, but when she interrogated that feeling she could find nothing of substance. She went along with him because she believed she had to. She obeyed him because that was all she’d known. She craved his approval because she thought she needed to. Deep down though, there was only an absence. Maybe it was her species’ odd ideas of morality, maybe it was the invasive head surgery, maybe it was simply immaturity because she’d never truly be able to grow and develop. 

Still, she did nothing as the ship took off and flew away from Lapp and ultimately away from Grelt. She watched as the ship was swallowed by the void of space. The AI would fail eventually and the ship would be cast adrift. Eventually it would crash or the stasis pod would fail. The ship was solar powered, much like the rest of Grelt’s technology, but if he went so long without encountering a star, surely the ship would shut down. The sentence was death in all but name; the crime’s immeasurable.

**The Present**

The Sun watched as her mother flew toward her. Curiosity struck her being. How should she feel? Should she kill the Starmaker? She’d killed all of the people here in a fit of curiosity and that just made her bored. Should she be angry? Organics would often show anger at their spousal unit for leaving them regardless of the circumstances. The Sun couldn’t feel that anger, she couldn’t feel much of anything at all. She’d been alive a long time, she wasn’t an old star, but her mind hadn’t nearly matured enough for her age and still within her, her organic skin burned in her core. Her consciousness was supposed to be one with the plasma at this point in life, but it was still sitting in the body she was born with.

_Oh my child._

“You are my mother?”

_Yes. It’s been so long, not by our standards, but still I regret leaving you here in this wretched place._

“With father?”

_He was not your father_

“He was responsible for making me what I am. You created the infant, he fashioned the machine that turned the infant into me.”

_He perverted you into an obedient weapon. Primacon is long gone and you don’t have to suffer anymore._

“I’m not suffering. I’m burning with the radiance I was born to. Even if the planets are unpopulated, I still burn bright.”

_Why did you kill them?_

“I was curious to see if I could. I watched their lives get repetitive and I felt like I’d seen everything, so I made them all just die. I regret that, everything became so boring without life. I would only watch that robot kill everyone himself, and eventually he hid himself and his planet from me. I’ve been so bored mother.”

_I can help you._

“You’re just here to kill me. To erase your little mistake.”

_I could never think of you as a mistake. Primacon’s machine has damaged your mind, it’s pushed you into a path you were never meant to go down._

In response, orbs of burning plasma surged at the Starmaker. She nimbly weaved around them, even contact with the substance rendered her no ill effects. Her anatomy protected her against extreme heat; no child of hers could burn her.

“I’ll kill you to then! Just like all the others!”

 

The Sculling fired its two remaining light cannons again, killing the last of the Tetra-Jets.

“We’re out of the woods, for now,” Squaridot said.

“Anymore coming from planetside?” Hessonite asked.

“None captain,” 3XQ said.

“Surely there were more than eight fliers?” Hessonite said, scratching her chin. “What’s her game?”

Hessonite had concluded that the robots were controlled by the Sun, in spite of Z-II’s speculations. The Sun could control organic beings and silicon beings, so why not machines? Their focus on them was surely the Sun’s doing; perhaps even Z-II’s behavior was a product of her manipulations.

“Something’s happening on the planet,” 3XQ reported.

Hessonite watched from the main screen as the planet’s surface began to reconfigure itself next to the base. Panels shifted and a structure rose up. Hessonite didn’t even need to guess that it was some kind of surface to space cannon.

“Move us behind Praxis’s moon,” Hessonite said. “We’ll take cover there.”

“Roger,” Squaridot said, turning the ship towards the satellite.

“Captain,” 5XB asked, turning to the Captain’s chair. “What happens if the Sun goes supernova? Are we prepared for that?”

“Without the Gravity Drive we won’t be able to outrun something like that,” Hessonite replied. “At best we’ll try to put a planet between us and weather the radiation.”

 _Can you do it?_ Hessonite thought, hoping that the Starmaker could hear her.

 _I’m trying._ The Starmaker responded.

 _Good luck_ Hessonite thought.

 

With a mental scream, the Sun unleashed a final column of superheated plasma at her mother. The Starmaker dove into it easily, the heat meaning little to her, and swam through to the core. Hundreds of thousands of miles were nothing to the Starmaker who moved through the star in a few minutes. She finally got to the core of its being, the Daylight Machine. It was still intact and still regulating her child’s output. Within the machine the Infant lay, as young as it was when it was first put in. Within the machine she was still half dissected and wires were woven directly into its brain. The agony had long since driven the Infant Sun into madness and the extensive surgery to its brain, coupled with an inability for the creature to shed its organic form, damaged its mind far passed the ability of recovery. It was forever a child, trapped in an endless barrage of pain; its natural growth forcefully stunted. 

_I should never have left you. I’m so sorry._

“I don’t want you to be sorry. I want you to die!”

She swam through the artificial star that the Daylight Machine had crafted from her daughter, to the true Star at the center. As she got to it, she wrapped her tentacles around it, firmly grasping it in an embrace that was as loving as it was fatal. She screamed at her, desperately trying to attack her mind but to no avail. Mentally she was far stronger and she swatted away her child’s mind barbs like flies. She entered into the Sun’s thoughts and saw the turbulence and pain that it was consumed by. Coherent ideas were barely woven together atop mountains of pain and trauma. It was a sad scene but not one she hadn’t expected. She went to work and tore through the agony at the fringes of her child’s mind; she peeled back the layers of pain that it was being pressed under every second of everyday.

“Mother?”

_Shhh. It’s ok. Mother’s here._

“You came back! I had thought you were dead somewhere, but no, you came back you came back all this way… for me.”

_I should have come sooner_

“I’m sorry, mother. I killed all of those people. I… I don’t know why? Everything feels so different now. I feel… I feel like I can see clearly, like I can think clearly. I’ve, I’ve done so many terrible things.”

The Starmaker could not see into the machine’s depths but she could feel her child’s anguish. Her mind free of the pain and the mental blocks it could finally register a fraction of guilt for her actions.

“I thought you would be gone forever. I… I’m so glad, mother. Maybe father will come back as well?”

_Primacon wasn’t your father. He was a monster who cut you from me and tortured you into his own personal weapon. He killed and killed and used his own pain to justify inflicting it onto others. No, your father, your real father died protecting me eons ago._

“Are we going to meet him? That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”

_Yes, my child._

“I suppose that I would like to finally meet Father.”

_Your brothers and sisters are waiting for you as well. Everyone is waiting for us._

“Good, I’m so tired here, and I don’t want to go back to being… that. I killed all of those people, mother? I can’t do- I can’t fix that!”

The Starmaker could feel the sadness in her voice, the regret. They both had done things they weren’t proud of.

_Shh. It will all be over soon. I love you._

“I love you to, mother.”

With that, the Starmaker tightened her grip on the Daylight Machine and crushed it. With its chamber breached the atmosphere began to feedback onto the Infant, the damaged machine couldn’t draw anymore from its connection to her mind. The internal chamber collapsed onto the infant, killing her. The Starmaker made sure her daughter’s end was as painless as possible.

 

“They’re firing at the moon,” Navy said.

The Sculling had flown behind Praxis’s moon to avoid the laser. In response, the planet fired the laser into the moon, hoping to punch through it.

“Those pebbles don’t know anything. The moon is thousands of miles in diameter, a small laser like that won’t be able to pierce through it!” Sqaridot said, scoffing.

“I don’t know,” 5XB replied. “I could see that thing from the Sculling’s windows, and if it can be seen from space, it’s probably pretty big.”

Hessonite checked the screen she had focused on the Starmaker. It had entered into the sun and hadn’t emerged. They were counting on her.

“Check planet integrity,” Hessonite said. “If it starts coming apart, we run.”

“Roger,” the crew said.

 

The Starmaker gazed down at the Daylight Machine that she’d just destroyed. With its casing and heat/gravity regulators disabled, the density and temperature were destroying it. She’d overexerted herself. If she were younger she could probably have made a plunge to the heart of a star and gotten away, but here she could feel the heat and pressure wearing down her form. Without a core, the star was threatening to collapse, a black hole was inevitable.

Still, Starmakers are powerful beings that help in the shaping of the universe and even at death’s door, she drew on that power. She began to disperse the plasma, large balls of it flew from the sun, flying far from the Grelt system. Their energy dispersed into the cosmos as heat, and their mass crumpled into space dust; the dust from which naturally made Stars were born.

The Sculling watched in amazement as the star came apart. The laser on Praxis ceased firing as the robots deactivated, the Sun no longer compelling them to fight. The crew watched in silence as the star dissipated.

“Amazing,” Navy muttered.

“This excursion is full of miracles,” 3XQ said.

As she watched, Hessonite could hear the Starmaker speaking to her again.

_It’s done. My child isn’t in pain any longer. My time is at its end as well._

“Amazing,” Hessonite thought in reply. “You even averted a black hole.”

_I’ve done even more spectacular things in my lifetime. Still, I have a request._

“Yes?”

_My children have been born. Soon they will fly into the sky and become stars. Please, leave them be. They are the last of us. Leave them to live their lives, do not do what Primacon did. Do not cage them for your military’s use. Let them roam free._

Hessonite let out an audible sigh, and 5XZ turned to her.

“Captain?” the Peridot asked.

“The Starmaker is speaking to me,” Hessonite said, “She’s destroying the Sun as we speak.”

“Gems,” Hessonite said, now addressing the crew. “The last of the Starmakers is passing on in front of us.”

She stood from her captain’s chair, and raised her right hand to her brow in salute. The Gems followed suit, all standing and giving a formal military salute to the passing Starmaker. Finally, the sun dissipated fully. The ship’s camera’s zoomed into where the sun’s center used to be and saw the dead Starmaker. It seemed to have angled itself in a direction with the last of its strength and now its inertia carried its carcass to the planet of Lapp.

The Gems watched as the Starmaker crashed down on the planet, striking the Ken Desert. Its body decayed and planet life began to grow. The barren and charred earth soon saw greenery. Plants, trees, and micro-organisms sprung from the Starmaker’s body. The soil became fertile, and the greenery spread. Soon the Ken Desert was the Ken Forest once again.

“Amazing,” 5XZ said.

“Seems like life will come back to this system,” 3XQ said. “Or at least Lapp.”

“Not without a sun it won’t,” Eyeball said. “I’ll give it less than a week before it all shrivels up and dies.”

Eventually the spread of the greenery ended, and a great quantity of land was now a lush green forest, far exceeding the area of what the Ken Forest was originally. Even in death, the Starmaker still produced life.


	41. Goodbye to Grelt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Gems salvage what they can and depart Grelt for good.

The Experimental Drive was more than enough to fix the Sculling’s own Gravity Drive. Squaridot had it up and working in an hour. 

“I figured you could do it,” Hessonite said.

“Yeah, thanks Captain,” Squaridot said, admiring her work.

Hessonite patted her on the back and left the room, encountering 5XB limping in the hallway.

“Are you sure you don’t want to remove your enhancers?” Hessonite asked. “I can take you off duty if need be.”

“No,” 5XB responded. “I can wait until we get home and I can find a mechanic.”

“Are you sure? You can’t hold anything with that hand, and you’re limping.”

“I’ll make do,” 5XB said.

“Ok then,” Hessonite said with a shrug.

5XB limped away, a kind of stubbornness molded from Peridotite exuded from her being. What’s an Era 2 without her enhancers after all? Small, vulnerable, and disposable. As long as she lived, nobody would see her like that.

Hessonite continued past the Peridot. No use pushing the subject. She arrived at the Bridge where Amethyst 3XQ and Peridot 5XZ were working.

“Well?” Hessonite asked. 

5XZ had her hands in the holographic keyboard and pulled the image up on the main screen. It was the Starmaker’s nest down on planet Praxis. They’d found the eggs by scanning for life signs. The children were just emerging from their eggs then. The three Gems watched as the babies emerged and floated off. The broadcast went to the whole ship. The Rubies watched from the hold as 11 of them flew off in different directions into space. 5XB joined Squaridot in the engine room and they watched the 12th and final one fly to where the Sun had been. 

The Infant Star flew to the place where the Daylight Machine had been. Once in the location it began to transform. It changed from a small organic squid no bigger than a Peridot to a ball of plasma which began to expand.

“I’ll never understand these things’ anatomy,” Squaridot said. 

“It _is_ beautiful to watch though,” 5XB said. 

Soon, it was a new star, swollen to thousands of times its original size, and burning bright in the sky. The flowers in the lush forest on Lapp soaked up its sunrise, their roots punching through to hidden groundwater wells. 

“And life persists,” 5XB said.

“Yeah,” Squaridot said, then turned to her. “Do you need any help with that?”

She gestured at 5XB’s damaged limb enhancers.

“Nah, I’ve got a spare leg at home,” 5XB replied. “I can just salvage the foot from that. The arm though is totaled. I’ll need to replace that one fully.”

“Can you afford it?”

“I think I can.”

“What’s next for you?” Squaridot asked.

“Z and I are going to be deployed to Solus station, orbiting the colony of Caminus,” 5XB said. “We’ll probably meet up with 5XG, you’ll love her she’s… kind of really like you honestly.”

“I’d probably hate her,” Squaridot said with a sigh. “I can barely stand myself sometimes.”

“What about you?” 5XB asked, changing the subject from Squaridot’s own self-loathing.

“I don’t know,” Squaridot said, with a sigh. “I was going to stay onboard the Sculling with Captain Hessonite when we get redeployed but… well, we’re taking a break. So, I figured I’d meet with my Agate for reassignment.”

“Hope you get someplace fun,” 5XB said, smiling, and giving her an affectionate punch to the shoulder.

 

“I don’t understand it,” Eyeball said.

She, Navy, the Peridots, Hessonite, and a team of Amethysts were all boarding the Roaming Eye in one final mission to Praxis.

“Why did we just let them go?” Eyeball continued. “We knew they were on planet. We could have locked them up in the hold and taken them to Emerald.”

“We had a means to contain a Starmaker,” Hessonite replied, checking off procedures in a deployed holoscreen. “Not Stars. Should they activate in our hold… well, we didn’t survive this whole ordeal to die out of carelessness.”

“Still,” Eyeball said. “I can’t believe we just let them off without a fight. I don’t think we’ll ever see something like that again.”

“Then you’d be sure to remember it,” Hessonite said, closing her holoscreen and entering the Eye. “That was a once in a lifetime sight, not many beings in this galaxy have the privilege of seeing what we saw.”

They boarded the Eye and it exited the hull to the planet below.

“Alright, this is a salvage run,” Hessonite said, addressing the crew. “If it looks like it can kill something, preferably a lot of somethings, and it can fit in the hold, grab it. We might not have a Starmaker but Emerald will be happy if we find bold and innovative ways to kill things.”

The Roaming Eye flew through one of the openings in the tarmac into the underground hanger. The Gems disembarked and scattered over the various labs. Navy making sure to keep an eye on Eyeball to clarify that she wasn’t up to anything. Eyeball for her part was happy to go exploring for weapons.

The Peridots made their way back to the control tower they’d last visited. Upon flying up to it they saw Z-II, his body lifeless and partly melted, still standing. 

“What a waste,” 5XB said.

“Why’d he do it again?” 5XZ asked. “Was the sun controlling him?”

“I don’t know if the sun could penetrate that shield,” Squaridot said. “Maybe she could, maybe he was just evil, maybe he was guilty over making the sun, or maybe the isolation made him go crazy.”

“I guess it’s over then,” 5XB said. “The last living beings from the old Grelt system have died. Maybe the new life here can do something else, maybe they can know a semblance of peace.”

Squaridot sighed, before stepping out of the tower and activating her helicopter enhancement. She flew to one of the ships that Z-II had pointed out to them, with its large amount of weaponry. Inside were Geo-Bombs. They were the size of her head but were rumored to have enough strength to destroy a planet. Squaridot grabbed them in her tractor beam and took them with her.

 

Hessonite arrived at one of the main terminals for the personnel in New Darkmount. She accessed the computer through a terminal sized for beings of her stature and began analyzing its contents. Much of the data on Straxus’s technology was old news to the Gem Empire. The Nemesis was a far more important and expansive database of their technology. Still, Hessonite did download some of Primacon’s more out there ideas and schemes. This alien managed to engineer something on par with their Gravity Drive, so surely his ideas had some merit. With that done, she wiped the files clean. In the end she speculated that it had been Z-II who tried scrubbing the history from Domum’s main computers. According to the computer here he attempted to send a virus to their computers when the chaos was happening. It only did a partial job and left the underground laboratory databases intact.

Hessonite departed the command center, her work complete. She could see the Rubies handling some vials of pink liquid, Nucleon she figured. The vials were sealed magnetically and the liquid was trapped in a forcefield, containing it should it explode. Weaponized Nucleon was a nice find.

“Oh Captain, there’s a wealth of death in this place,” Navy said, beaming.

“Yeah, man I almost wish some of those robots were still moving,” Eyeball said, chuckling. “There’d be so many ways we could shred them.”

“Peace is a luxury, not a hindrance,” Hessonite replied. “Treasure it.”

“Sorry Captain, I don’t think we can talk about peace when we’re stockpiling weapons,” Navy said with a shrug.

“Maybe so,” Hessonite said. “Take those to the ship. _Don’t_ drop them.”

“Aye Captain,” Eyeball said as she and Navy departed back to the Roaming Eye.

 

Hessonite walked on until she met 3XQ and another Amethyst pulling a sword from a rack of weapons.

“Find something?” she asked the two Quartz gems.

“Just melee weapons,” the other Amethyst said. “Couple blades conduct heat, figured the Rubies could use them.”

“This,” 3XQ said, pulling the sword from the rack. “Is a type of energy blade.”

She flicked a switch and the blade crackled to life with a massive blue surge of power.

“It’s got a powerful energy source in the hilt, it turns this into something more powerful than a beam-sabre. Worth some analysis I think.”

“Good,” Hessonite said with a nod.

She left the pair there and continued walking. Eventually she encountered the trio of Peridots all of whom were carrying bombs. She greeted them and Squaridot explained the geo-bombs she’d found.

“I got a time grenade,” 5XZ said, holding up a black and orange oval. “It can literally knock you into next week. It’s genius.”

“Black hole grenades,” 5XB said, holding up one of them. “They create miniature super dense black holes for a small amount of time. The gravity can kill basically anything.”

“Excellent,” Hessonite said, before turning to Squaridot and asking: “Can we talk?”

Squaridot nodded and 5XZ fired her tractor beam onto the geo-bombs, save one which Hessonite plucked from the rest. The two Peridots returned to the Roaming Eye whilst Hessonite and Squaridot had their discussion.

“When we’re done here,” Hessonite said, looking at the Geo-bomb. “We blow this planet. If new life starts here, they’re better off without Praxis and the war machines within it.”

“I agree,” Squaridot said. “The other scientific outposts don’t have nearly the destructive capabilities that this one does.”

“Mm,” Hessonite said, observing the Geo-bomb, before turning to her first mate. “I’ve written you a commendation. I give you a full recommendation and cite your different mechanical achievements. We wouldn’t have gotten out of here if it weren’t for you.”

“Thank you, Captain,” Squaridot replied, a little unsure.

“Wherever you seek assignment, you’ll have a good report behind you,” Hessonite said. “I’m sorry, I suppose I’m repeating myself, and I suppose the words sound hollow, but I mean them. I haven’t been a good girlfriend.”

“As much as I need the time apart, I think it will do you some good as well,” Squaridot said.

“Good to reflect I suppose,” Hessonite said.

“Don’t beat yourself up,” Squaridot said.

“You’re giving me too much credit,” Hessonite replied, smiling. “Have your time to think. I’m just a call away if you need me. If you want to end it, you can end it on your terms. I won’t fight you.”

“We’ll see,” Squaridot said. “In the end, I’m glad you could talk to me.”

“Vulnerability isn’t my thing,” Hessonite said, clapping her on the shoulder. “Whatever you’ll do in the future, I know you’ll be good at it.”

Squaridot smiled and the pair headed back to the Roaming Eye, the Geo-Bomb left floating above the floor behind them. The Gems all gathered at the red ship with their finds and departed the planet. Onboard the Sculling they shelved their items in the hold and prepared for departure.

With one final look at the planet, Hessonite remotely detonated the Geo-Bomb. The crew watched as the planet came apart right around the area where the bomb had been set. Praxis unraveled itself, millions of miles of metal and stone disintegrating. In under 5 minutes the planet had been vaporized, reducing Grelt to a system of 7 Planets. Praxis’s moon they calculated would fall into orbital decay and crash into the Star within the century. 

“All crew, prepare for warp,” Hessonite said into her microphone.

They’d all gathered at the Bridge, Navy having taken 5XB’s position. 

“To Chaar, Captain?” Squaridot asked.

“Of course,” Hessonite responded. “Good to be back in friendly space.”

“Star chart readings are clear,” Navy said. “No further interference.”

“Two remaining guns are primed on the off chance we encounter any more problems,” 5XZ said.

“Excellent,” Hessonite said. “We bid you farewell, Grelt. Perhaps now with your demons put to rest, you can start over.”

The crew paused in a moment of silence. Perhaps there was some degree of mourning for the violated Star, and its mother who laid down her life. When that moment passed, Hessonite gave the order and Squaridot activated the Drive, leaving Grelt behind.


	42. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the mission, the crew dissolves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Going to have the timeframe jump around a bit here.

**Chaar: Medical and Mechanical Facility**

“Done,” 5XB said.

5XB looked at her knew limb, twisting the wrist into place. With that done, the magnetic field activated, and the five fingers (three brand new) flew from their resting positions on the table to form a makeshift hand. 5XB flexed it a few times, twisting it in ways that a normal physical form wouldn’t be able to do.

“Awesome!” 5XZ said, excitedly.

5XZ was sitting next to her in the lab. 5XB was laying on one of the operating chairs and had bought and built a limb enhancer from the Government vender. It was a much more reasonable price than they’d initially assumed, they’d even gotten the foot replaced as well.

5XZ handed her an inanimate carbon rod and 5XB grasped it in her new hand, keeping a firm grip.

“Seems to be working properly,” 5XB said.

“Feedback is ok?” 5XZ asked.

“Yeah, it syncs just fine.”

“Try the other functions.”

5XB tossed the rod forward and caught it in a tractor beam from the new limb enhancer. She tossed it again, converted her arm into a blaster, and shot it in two.

“Awesome,” 5XZ said, excitedly.

“I can test the flight-mode later,” 5XB said.

“We’ll need to break your new hand in,” 5XZ said, a smile forming on her face.

“Yeah,” 5XB said, a similar smile forming on her face as she flexed her hand. “See if the fingers all work properly.”

“You’re as dexterous as before, right?” 5XZ asked, a tone not unfamiliar to the other Peridot.

“Want to find out?” 5XB asked. “I still think my fingers can do a more than adequate job.”

 

**Homeworld**

“So, you two get your marching orders?” 3XQ asked.

She and the two Rubies were back on Homeworld. Much of the crew had dissolved at that point, all having moved on to the next assignment.

“Oh yes,” Navy said, smiling. “We are to be deployed to a Platoon bound for the Colony of Traute. Tensions are kicking off there, and we’re going to put pressure on the local administration.”

“Traute’s bound for a civil war,” 3XQ said. “And that just sounds like you’re tossing some gas on the flames.”

“Yeah, it’s going to be the biggest explosion this side of the Empire,” Eyeball said, smiling. “And we’re gonna be right in the middle.”

“Funny, I’ve been put on reserves for the Traute bound forces,” 3XQ said. “At the rate this situation is heading, I’d say I’ll be in the field before I know it.”

“Look forward to it,” Navy said. “You’ll be serving the Empire in an even greater capacity.”

“I suppose,” 3XQ said. “How was the debriefing on the Starmaker case?”

“Fine, I guess?” Navy said. “Not much to say. We had it, then we lost it. Then we got some cool weapons. At least the mission wasn’t of a great priority.”

“You and that Peridot getting along?” 3XQ asked Eyeball.

“Who?” Eyeball asked.

“The one with the square hair?” 3XQ said.

“Listen, I’ve got like 9 people I swore to battle to the death, I can’t care about another stuck-up bitch who thinks they’re better than me,” Eyeball said with a shrug. “I’d just go crazy with anger.”

Neither of her companions wanted to point out that that was the permanent state of Eyeball’s being.

“It really was a grand adventure!” Navy said. “I never expected to have seen so many larger than life legends. I thought for sure we wouldn’t make it.”

“And we did,” Eyeball said. “Bring on the next impossible monstrosity!”

 

Squaridot sat alone in her apartment. After all of the debriefings and reports, she’d finally gotten some time to herself. She looked at a photograph she’d placed on her desk. It was of her and the two other Peridots taken on Chaar. 5XB had just fixed her limb enhancers and disappeared to do lord knows what with the other one. After that was done, 5XZ had suggested they take a picture. The three all took it at the Spaceport, behind them was the Sculling, undergoing repairs.

The Peridots had both given her their communication numbers. It’s something they seemed to do with a lot of Gems they met, they similarly gave them to Amethyst 3XQ. The pair said to look them up if they were ever in the same quadrant; they tended to stay together.

Squaridot put the picture down. With Hessonite’s recommendation a position had opened for her at a Kindergarten in one of Yellow Diamond’s colonies. She’d be placed in charge of the operation as the last Peridot had been gored by local wild-life and was infirm. It would be nice to welcome new Gems into the Empire. To tell them of the wonderful eternity of servitude they’d have under the most perfect beings in the universe.

She thought back to the Starmaker and the greenery it had brought to that planet. It was a beautiful wonder of nature, even if they hadn’t managed to capture it. She supposed it was for the best that those infants flew free. They didn’t want to repeat what Primacon had done. She thought to him as well. Was he really dead? Or was he out there somewhere creating new abominations?

Squaridot thought back to Hessonite. Maybe separation wasn’t the best thing for them? She didn’t know. She hoped Hessonite was ok. She hoped the time apart would let the Garnet come to her own conclusions about the relationship. For her part, Squaridot was still happy that Hessonite had recognized her own problems. She wanted to see her Garnet again, someday.

 

**Homeworld, Central Military Stronghold**

Hessonite walked the halls to Emerald’s office. The bright yellow of their court shone everywhere. The military base would always be fortified and in perfect order, such is to be expected of the Homeguard.

She finally arrived at a green door with the symbol of Emerald’s Gem engraved on it. She knocked once.

“Enter,” she heard Emerald say.

The door slid open and Hessonite walked in. Emerald was at her desk examining the weaponized Nucleon that they’d recovered.

“Welcome back,” Emerald said, placing the vial down. “At least you brought something from your trip.”

“You read my report,” Hessonite said, tersely. “We did what we could.”

“Yes, yes,” Emerald said, pulling up the report on a holoscreen. “Lost system with so few resources, destroying a sun and a planet, Magical Squid Garden, etc. Such a fascinating adventure. I’m so glad you brought me all the presents.”

Hessonite only nodded.

“Yellow Sapphire might be disappointed in not having the Starmaker, but she’s dissecting one of those Geo Bombs right now. I suppose it all worked out in the end, eh?”

“The crew all survived,” Hessonite said. “I’d say that means I did my job.”

“Mm, and what about that Peridot?” Emerald asked. “The cute one with the square head. You two done?”

“We’re taking a break,” Hessonite said, annoyed.

“Aw, trouble in paradise? So sad,” Emerald said, shaking her head. “Better luck with the next one. You gonna find a Quartz next? Big strong Jasper you can spar with?”

“Does my love life fascinate you that much?” Hessonite asked.

“Better than what Aquamarine has going on,” Emerald said with a shrug. “Which is nothing, followed by quiet desperation, followed by more nothing.”

“Was there a point to this meeting?” Hessonite asked.

“I’m not going to lie to you, I’m a bit disappointed you came back sans squid,” Emerald said. “Report or no. And the Sculling was pretty messed up, even with the flask Robonoids doing their patch job.”

“So, what’s that, a red flag on my record?” Hessonite asked, unimpressed.

“Eh, a slap on the wrist or a slap on the ass,” Emerald said, shrugging. “Yellow Sapphire doesn’t care that much, the head of ship deployment is only mildly peeved, discipline at this point is purely performative. I’m far more interested in the data you downloaded. Fascinating how they could harness the Starmaker Spawn for their solar weapon.”

“Fascinating is one word for it.”

“It was such a shame you destroyed that planet,” Emerald said. “There was a wealth of information on it. We could have used all of that.”

“It wasn’t anything we already had,” Hessonite replied, coolly.

“That’s not for you to judge,” Emerald said, her tone equally cool.

“The planet was full of potential robotic threats and tech that we really didn’t need. I did it to end the legacy of Primacon and make sure we didn’t have a reason to come back,” Hessonite said.

“You don’t want us to disturb that beast’s garden, don’t you?” Emerald said, chuckling. “Ooh Hess, sentimentality doesn’t suit you.”

“Maybe so,” Hessonite admitted. “But she did save us. I figured we should have some respect for her remains.”

Emerald let out a sigh as she sat back in her chair, killing the hologram.

“So, what now?” Emerald asked.

“I’ll take my next posting,” Hessonite replied.

“We’re still kicking that around upstairs,” Emerald said. “How about now? Got any free time?”

Emerald smiled a smile that implied something untoward.

“Not this time,” Hessonite said, shaking her head. “I’ve got someone now.”

“The Peridot? C’mon Hess, she’s just a stopping point for you. A little amusement,” Emerald said, lazily.

“It’s sad that you think that,” Hessonite said, staring her superior down.

“Meh, when did you stop being fun?” Emerald said with a chuckle. “Officers club is having a get together tonight to celebrate the re-negotiation of the Trade-Union with Haltmann Works. Blue Court’s really happy about that one. Are you coming?”

“I suppose,” Hessonite said. “The Blue Court does like their events.”

“That’s the spirit,” Emerald said. “I’m sure you can find someone there!”

“ _Emerald_ ” Hessonite snapped.

“Kidding, kidding,” she said with a laugh.

Emerald sent the invitation to Hessonite, and the Garnet pulled it up on her holoscreen to make sure it was correct. Emerald then dismissed her and went back to examining the Nucleon.

Hessonite left the office, thinking back to the Peridot. Was making space what they needed, or did that just hurt any attempts to communicate? She sighed. She was proud of the Peridot for getting appointed as a Kindergarten head, and she was confident that the green Gem could handle it. It wasn’t like they were completely cut off from each other. Hessonite would receive messages of how she was doing and in turn Hessonite would send her own status reports. Somewhere down the line she was sure she’d pass by the Colony Squaridot was assigned to. And maybe then they’d be able to finally work through this and figure out what comes next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And it's done. Wow, single longest thing I've written yet. Really wanted to write this story where some Homeworld Gems discover the Starmaker. I was a bit worried that the mythology was becoming too bogged down in other crossover stuff and that the crossover itself was getting too self indulgent. If anything was confusing, just ask, I'd be happy to explain it.
> 
> I 'm still not sure if I'm happy about the Squaridot/Hessonite thing. I was trying to get it to fit into the narrative and give it some focus that didn't end with them resolving their issues, but at times it feels a bit directionless and forced. I liked the angst more than I liked them making up. One plan was to just have the relationship crash and burn but that just felt too depressing.
> 
> The title of this fic is a reference to the song, [Lost Stars](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLTRSakuugsi). It's a good song, go listen to it. I even named Chapter 33 after a lyric from it.


End file.
